Colombia: French and Swiss envoys seek meeting with guerrilla chief on hostages

A French and a Swiss envoy are visiting Colombia to meet the new top commander of the country's main leftist rebel group and discuss the possible liberation of hostages, the president's press secretary disclosed Monday. "The two European delegates entered Colombia in the past few days, asked the government for authorization to head out for this direct encounter with the FARC's Secretariat — authorization conceded by the government," Cesar Mauricio Velasquez said. Colombian officials say the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, hold about 700 hostages, including three U.S. military contractors and Ingrid Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen who was running for Colombia's presidency when she was kidnapped in 2002. Betancourt is a cause celebre in Europe and French President Nikolas Sarkozy has vigorously... [read full story]