Colombia: French Negotiators Were to Meet Slain Rebel on Day He Was Killed

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia: French Negotiators Were to Meet Slain Rebel on Day He Was Killed

By Kintto Lucas, IPS News. Posted March 10, 2008.

Colombian officials warned French envoys away from the meet.

Three personal envoys of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who were in Ecuador since October 2007, were phoned Saturday Mar. 1 by Colombian Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, who warned them not to go to a meeting with guerrilla leader Raúl Reyes because they would be in danger.

Sarkozy's envoys in Ecuador, who were there with the consent of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, were negotiating with Reyes the release of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who has been held hostage by the guerrillas for six years, said a French diplomatic source who wished not to be named.

The source told IPS that the three French negotiators were in a town near the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) camp that was bombed by the Colombian military in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The raid, carried out three kilometers from the Colombian border, killed Reyes -- the rebel group's international spokesman -- and around two dozen other insurgents.

The envoys were on their way to a meeting that morning with Reyes, who was actually already dead, when they received Restrepo's phone call warning them not to approach the contact point, for their own safety.

More:
http://www.alternet.org/audits/79215/

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This would cast a bit of DOUBT upon the absurd claims by Uribe concerning the reason behind the attack on these rebels 1 mile over the line in Ecuador.