Hours after FARC said it was willing to release three of its hostages, the French Prime Minister, Francois Fillon has spoke. One of those hostages freed would be Clara Rojas who was kidnapped with Ingrid Bentacourt in 2002. They would be handed over to Venezuela under the custody of President Hugo Chavez.
According to Mr. Fillon, the request for the swap to accommodate the FARC rebels was made by Alvaro Uribe, the president of Colombia.
Mr. Chavez had acted as the mediator in which it ended last month. Ms. Rojas was an aid to Ms. Bentancourt. Ms. Bentancourt herself holds dual citizenship in both France and Colombia.
Asides from Ms. Rojas, the other two would be her unborn son and Consuelo Gonzalez, a former congresswoman. However, Luis Carlos Restrepo said the country remained cautious because FARC had made announcements such as that one in the past.
FARC said they already given the order to release the three to the custody of Mr. Chevez. However, they did not disclose when the handover of the three hostages was going to take place.
At the same time, they reiterated a demand made to President Uribe. The demand made by FARC was to demilitarize a large part of southwestern Colombia. It would serve as a place to meet for a large exchange that has been proposed.
FARC has called the current proposal as unacceptable as they called it inhospitable.