Betancourt mission reaches Colombia
Envoys to deliver medical aid to hostage being held by Farc rebels.
Lorenzo Delloye-Betancourt said his mother was dying [AFP] |
Pascale Andreani, a French foreign ministry spokeswoman, declined to provide details about the mission at a news briefing on Thursday.
However, Luis Carlos Restrepo, Colombia’s peace commissioner, said the Colombian government was complying with a request by France that it suspend all military operations against the Farc while the operation took place.
Son’s plea
Speaking at a news conference in Paris on Wednesday, Lorenzo Delloye-Betancourt, Betancourt’s son, said these were the final hours of his mother’s life unless critical measures were executed immediately
He said: “At the hour that I’m addressing you, in the Colombian jungle, a woman, my mother, is dying. She has Hepatitis B and leishmaniasis which requires a blood transfusion in the hours to come or risks losing her life.”
Any successful mission to treat the captives would be the first contact for years with some of the hostages, whom the Farc rebels say they want to exchange for their jailed fighters.
Attempts to secure a deal to free the hostages, who also include three Americans, are deadlocked over a rebel demand that Uribe demilitarise an area in the south of Colombia for a safe haven to facilitate talks.
The Farc did release six captives earlier this year in a deal brokered by Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s president.