Proposed prisoner swap

Colombia excludes rebels held in US from prisoner swap

Friday, October 5, 2007

BOGOTA (AFP) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe insisted on Wednesday that two rebel leaders held in the United States would not be included in a proposed prisoner swap with Colombia's FARC rebel group.

Visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates indicated he agreed with Uribe on the issue, saying: "I'm satisfied with those limits."

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) wants Simon Trinidad and another top FARC member known as "Sonia" to be included in the proposed swap of

500 jailed rebels for 45 FARC hostages, including three Americans and Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian senator who also hold French citizenship.

But Uribe ruled out seeking the return of the two FARC members. "The government of Colombia says a resounding 'no' to the return from the United States of the rebel leaders Simon Trinidad and Sonia," said Uribe.

"We would face the risk that everytime someone wants to avoid extradition or pressure for the return of someone who has been extradited to the United States, all that is needed is to take US citizens here hostage," Uribe told journalists. Trinidad was extradited in December 2004 and Sonia about two months later.

Gates said he and Uribe discussed the "hostage situation" and expressed the hopes the three Americans and others held by the Marxist insurgents will be set free.

The US Ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield, had said earlier the US administration was willing to look at any "concrete proposal" from FARC.

Uribe's announcement came as Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba was due to meet in the United States with Trinidad and "Sonia."

The senator and Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez are both acting as mediators in the proposed prisoner swap, and recently met in Caracas with relatives of the hostages.