TrueBlueAmerican

Title
Bill Richardson to ask Hugo Chavez for Help

Link
New Mexico governor to discuss American hostages in talks with Chavez - International Herald Tribune
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Excerpt

CARACAS, Venezuela: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is looking to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for help in pressing for the release of three American hostages held by rebels in Colombia.

The Democratic governor said after arriving in Caracas on Friday night that he would discuss ways of moving toward a proposed swap of hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.

"We're going to get together tomorrow ... to consult about — simply — the state of the hostages and how we can promote the humanitarian accord," he said.

Richardson, who has previously served as a diplomatic troubleshooter to help free Americans in other countries, said he visited Venezuela at the request of hostages' families.

Three U.S. defense contractors — Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell — have been held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, for five years. They were captured when their plane went down in rebel-held jungles in February 2003.

"I think President Chavez can help and can play a role in this issue," Richardson said. "I'm here sent by the families. I'm not an official envoy of the United States."

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Comment:

You cant feel too bad for the 'defense contractors' though. They like playing mercenaries in other peoples countries until they get fucked.

Defense contractors are not unconnected from the militaries they help. They are just as guilty of the crimes the people they back have commited.

Ptech

I agree TBA, that you can't feel too sorry for the mercenaries. Before the War On Terror was the War On Drugs.

But everybody deserves his freedom, so I hope Bill Richardson has some luck down there.

TrueBlueAmerican

Yeah, if anyone can pull it off its Bill Richardson.

Jonesy

Mercenaries deserve everything they get. As the official cookie mercenary, I can tell you, sometimes I eat bad cookies. The trick to being a good mercenary is making sure you take the right offers.

TrueBlueAmerican

UPDATE:

President Hugo Chavez said a hostage deal with Colombian rebels "has turned very difficult" because he lost all contact with FARC guerrillas, a day after meeting with an optimistic former US official (Bill R.).

"We've lost contact with FARC. We had developed a contact system and that has been destroyed," Chavez said on his weekly radio program, "Alo Presidente," speaking about his meeting Saturday with former US envoy to the United Nations Bill Richardson.

Chavez's pessimism was echoed by FARC commander Ivan Marquez, who in an interview published in Argentine newspaper Perfil said any hope of hostage releases by his group were dashed by Colombia's recent killing of FARC's second-in-command Raul Reyes.

"However, I told him (Bill R.) we're ready to help," Chavez said, adding that he hoped "better opportunities" would arise in the future to clinch a swap.

FOCUS Information Agency

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If you recall, Raul Reyes was murdered by Columbia w/US assistance right after FARC released 6 hostages earlier this year. Owell..

Had it worked out, Columbia and the US would have probably responded by murdering Ivan..

I suspect that the communications between Venezuela and the FARC led to the finding of the Guerilla camp where Reyes was, and FARC has since closed that avenue.

Jonesy

If you look up the definition of mercenary, you'll find almost every American today is in fact a mercenary.