Colombia: French Negotiators Were to Meet Slain Rebel on Day He Was Killed

Three personal envoys of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who were in Ecuador since October 2007, were phoned Saturday Mar. 1 by Colombian Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, who warned them not to go to a meeting with guerrilla leader Raúl Reyes because they would be in danger.

Sarkozy's envoys in Ecuador, who were there with the consent of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, were negotiating with Reyes the release of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who has been held hostage by the guerrillas for six years, said a French diplomatic source who wished not to be named.

The source told IPS that the three French negotiators were in a town near the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) camp that was bombed by the Colombian military in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The raid, carried out three kilometers from the Colombian border, killed Reyes -- the rebel group's international spokesman -- and around two dozen other insurgents.

The envoys were on their way to a meeting that morning with Reyes, who was actually already dead, when they received Restrepo's phone call warning them not to approach the contact point, for their own safety.

When Colombia announced that Reyes had been killed, the French government expressed its displeasure. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told the press that "It's bad news that the man we were talking to is dead."

The rebel leader was France's contact in the negotiations for the release of Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen, which Sarkozy has made a top priority of his government.

Last month, another Sarkozy envoy met with Restrepo, who gave his word that he backed the negotiations for the release of the ailing Betancourt.

On Monday, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa reported that the aerial bombing raid on the FARC camp had frustrated the unilateral release of 12 hostages, including Betancourt, which was to take place in Ecuador this month. He said "the talks were quite advanced."

Complaining that the attack had foiled the planned hostage handover, he said "We cannot discount that this was one of the reasons for the incursion and attack by the enemies of peace."

The list of hostages to be released this month reportedly included Colombian army officers and non-commissioned officers Juan Carlos Bermeo, Raimundo Malagón, Arbey Delgado, and Pablo Moncayo, police officers Luis Mendieta, Edgar Duarte and Julián Guevara, and an Ecuadorian policeman, Marcelino Arreaga.

The Uribe administration admitted that the Colombian military had made an incursion into Ecuadorian territory, but accused Ecuador and Venezuela of illegal ties with the FARC. As proof, it provided documents which, according to Colombian officials, were found on laptops in Reyes' camp.

Ecuadorian Security Minister Gustavo Larrea acknowledged that he had met in January with Reyes, "outside of Ecuador and Colombia," and said he spoke with him only about the release of the hostages as part of an effort brokered by several governments.

France, Switzerland and Spain form part of a group of countries attempting to facilitate talks between the Colombian government and the FARC, to negotiate a humanitarian exchange of hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.

Mediation efforts by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez secured the unilateral release of six hostages by the FARC in January and February.

On Tuesday, the FARC secretariat issued a communiqué stating that Reyes "was killed carrying out a mission to arrange, through President Chávez, an interview with President Sarkozy, aimed at moving forward in the search for solutions to the situation of Ingrid Betancourt and the objective of the humanitarian exchange."

The FARC also thanked presidents "Hugo Chávez, Nicolás Sarkozy, Rafael Correa, Daniel Ortega (of Nicaragua), Cristina Fernández (of Argentina), Evo Morales (of Bolivia) and all governments that want peace, the families of the prisoners (hostages), and the immense majority who support the exchange."