Chavez best hope for Colombia's Betancourt: husband

[Judi Lynn]

Chavez best hope for Colombia's Betancourt: husband
Fri May 2, 2008 6:24pm EDT
By Todd Benson

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is the best hope for successfully negotiating the release of French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages held by leftist Colombian guerrillas, her husband said on Friday.

France is spearheading a campaign to restart talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the Marxist rebel group holding hundreds of captives, including Betancourt, in secret camps deep in the jungle.

Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary who has expressed sympathies for the FARC, helped negotiate the release of six hostages this year. But Colombian President Alvaro Uribe rejects a formal role in release talks for Chavez, who irked his Colombian counterpart by urging more recognition for the rebels.

"The Colombian government, I think out of pride, doesn't want Chavez to participate," Juan Carlos Lecompte, Betancourt's husband, told Reuters on the sidelines of an environmental conference in Sao Paulo.

"But for us, the relatives of the captives, he is the main hope that we have. We've begged him to keep working for their release and that is what he is doing."

More:
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAN0235181420080502