FARC Rejects Medical Aid to Betancourt

Tuesday 08 April 2008 By AFP

A French medical mission to aid French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt has been rejected by the Colombian guerrilla group FARC. "Our actions are not determined by blackmail or by the media," the FARC said in a press release.


Leftist Colombian rebels on Tuesday rejected a French humanitarian mission trying to assist hostages that include ailing French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt.

France sent a jet with doctors and diplomats on board to Colombia last week in hopes of getting access to Betancourt, 46, who was said to be gravely ill.

"For the same reasons given the ICRC (International Red Cross) on January 17, the French medical mission is not appropriate and, moreover, is not the result of an agreement," read a statement from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, issued through the pro-rebel Bolivarian News Agency.

The French mission is "the result of the bad faith of (Colombian President Alvaro) Uribe before the (French) government, and heartlessly mocks the expectation of the relativs of the prisoners," the statement added.

"We do not act under blackmail or under pressure from media campaigns," read the statement.

The statement claimed that if Uribe had cleared an area in southern Colombia earlier in the year, as the rebels requested, then Betancourt and the other hostages "would already have recovered their freedom, and it would have been a victory for all."

FARC guerrillas snatched Betancourt in February 2002 as she campaigned for the Colombian presidency.

for the entire story, go to http://www.france24.com/en/20080408-ingrid-betancourt-colombia-farc-medical-aid-refuse&navi=MONDE

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