Humanitarian swap to deal with the release of Venezuelans hostages
Kidnapping in Venezuela to be discussed with FARC
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will possibly cash in on his upcoming meeting with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) in the context of the humanitarian swap to deal with the release of Venezuelans hostages held by the guerrillas.
In the opinion of Minister of Interior Pedro Carreńo, state security agencies should "leap" to diagnose the 72 cases of Venezuelan captives in order to submit a report to President Chávez.
"If this analysis finds definitely that some of the hostages are in the hands of FACR, rest assured, President Chávez, based on his human capacity, his indeclinable willingness to favor the people (…) will spare no effort to discuss this matter," said Carreńo at the end of a meeting with 12 families, the hostages' relatives.
However, the high-ranking official clarified that common criminals, drug traffickers and guerrilla defectors are responsible for 90 percent of kidnappings in Venezuela.
