Chavez urges FARC to end struggle

by Dave Keating | June 8, 2008 at 11:21 pm

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In a fairly interesting development in South America, Hugo Chavez has publicly called for FARC, the insurgent group fighting Columbia's right-wing government from a base in Ecuador, should give up its struggle. Venezuela and Columbia, which both have leftist governments, have long had tensions with Columbia's rightist, US-supported government over their support of FARC, and recent events threatened to cause a war between the countries. Chavez may be calculating that a war with a US-backed Columbia would be ill-advised, with little lilely positive outcome for Venezuela.

Leftist rebels in Colombia should release all hostages in their custody as a first step toward laying down their weapons, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday.

Chavez said the rebels should stop fighting and end a war that has riven Colombia for more than 40 years, killing tens of thousands.

"The guerilla's war has passed into history," he said, according to the Bolivariana News Agency.

His comments came just months after he urged the international community to recognize the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia as a legitimate insurgent force rather than a terrorist organization, as the United States and European Union consider it.

Meanwhile, the rebels have suffered major setbacks recently, and Chavez has faced accusations of funneling them money to finance their war.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known as the FARC, for its acronym in Spanish -- holds an estimated 750 hostages in the jungles of South America, including a former Colombian presidential candidate and three U.S. defense contractors. Many have been held for years.