Governor works on freeing hostages

Richardson goes to Colombia to help three held by FARC

Kate Nash | The New Mexican

3/28/2008 - 3/28/08

Gov. Bill Richardson took the first steps this week in what he hopes is a mission to persuade Colombian rebels to release three U.S. citizen hostages.

Returning from a 24-hour trip to Bogota on Friday, Richardson said he's working first to meet key players in the situation. "When you get involved in these negotiations, you have to get to know the principals and gain their trust," he said in an interview from the Houston airport.

The governor went to Bogota at the invitation of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe. He said he also met with two former Colombian presidents, representatives of the Catholic Church and other government officials.

Members of the rebel group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC, have been holding Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Tom Howes since 2003.

The men, who worked under a contract with California Microwave, a division of Northrop Grumman, were kidnapped by FARC when their plane engine failed during an anti-drug mission.

The rebels want to exchange the U.S. hostages for members of their group who are jailed by the Colombian government.

Richardson's trip came as the Uribe government offered late Thursday to free dozens of imprisoned rebels if FARC members first released hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, according to The Associated Press. Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen, reportedly is gravely ill.

"It is enough that Ingrid Betancourt be immediately freed for us to consider this humanitarian exchange is moving forward and to begin delivering the benefits of suspended sentences to (jailed) members of the guerrilla group," Colombian Peace Minister Luis Carlos Restrepo told a news conference in Bogota, The Associated Press reported.

The U.S. hostages also appear to be in "deteriorating health," Richardson said he learned during the trip.

Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, isn't representing the U.S. government on this trip. Nor is he representing the Organization of American States, although he was appointed a special envoy for Hemispheric Affairs by OAS in 2006.

While he called the trip successful, he said the process of freeing the hostages won't happen quickly.

Earlier this year, FARC rebels released several hostages after missions by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, someone Richardson said he plans to talk to next about the situation.

For now, hard feelings remain about the March 1 killing of FARC's No. 2 leader by the Colombian army. That attack across the border in neighboring Ecuador provoked ire in South America, leading OAS to look into the situation, and leaving Chávez, not an ally of Colombia, to warn the move could provoke war.

Family members of the hostages have written letters, talked to politicians and waited, praying for a breakthrough.

Gene and Lynne Stansell, whose son, Keith, is among the hostages, also have met with Uribe and Chávez. Like other families, they have had no direct contact with their son since 2003.

The U.S. government has said it won't negotiate with terrorists, and it has chilly relations with Venezuela's Chávez, who has been said to be financing FARC.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com.