Colombia:A Venezuelan-sponsored plan to free three hostages held by Colombian rebels has been stalled by the guerrillas' failure to reveal their location, and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez said it may unravel if the stalemate drags on.
After weeks of promising to release two former Colombian politicians and the young son born to one of them in captivity, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) has withheld details of their whereabouts, raising concerns about the mission yesterday.
Mr Chávez negotiated the rescue effort with the Farc and had initially hoped to see the release take place on Thursday.
"If this were to drag on three or four or five days, for security reasons, it could collapse and we would have to think of something else," he said late on Saturday.
Colombian peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo told reporters yesterday that the government still supported the mission and would allow it as much time as necessary.
Others involved in planning the handover said there was time for the Farc to say where it was keeping Consuelo Gonzalez, Clara Rojas and her son, Emmanuel, who was fathered by a guerrilla fighter and is thought to be four years old.
"We do not have the co-ordinates but we could get them at any time, and then we expect the mission to move along," said Yves Heller, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is helping co-ordinate the handover.
Ms Rojas was captured in 2002 and Mr Gonzalez in 2001.
Foreign envoys flew to the central Colombian town of Villavicencio on Saturday to observe the mission. Among them were former Argentine president Néstor Kirchner, officials from France and Switzerland and US film director Oliver Stone, who is making a documentary about Latin America.
"We all want to see this mission go well," Stone told reporters in Villavicencio. "President Chávez is very unselfish and is really trying to make this work." The release of the hostages could pave the way for freeing other high-profile captives, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American anti-drug contractors, in exchange for jailed guerrillas.
- (Reuters)