Colombia Asks France To
Recapture FARC "Foreign Minister"
BOGOTA - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe
said Thursday that he would ask his French
counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy to help
recapture Rodrigo Granda, known as the
"foreign minister" of the rebel
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
"We agreed to the request from President
Sarkozy to release Granda" in 2007, Uribe
said at a press conference.
But "tomorrow at the G-8 (Group of Eight
summit), I will ask him (Sarkozy) to help me
recapture him," Uribe said.
Granda was arrested by Colombian agents late
2004 in Venezuela and taken to a Colombian
jail, which triggered a diplomatic incident
between Bogota and Caracas.
He was released in 2007 due to a petition
from France asking him to work as a mediator
for the release of Ingrid Betancourt, a
former Colombian presidential candidate with
dual Colombian-French nationality, who had
been taken hostage by FARC.
Granda has been investigated in Paraguay in
connection with the kidnapping and murder of
a daughter of former Paraguayan President
Raul Cubas.
Invited by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper，President Uribe will attend the G-8
Summit scheduled for June 25-26 in Canada. |
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