It is difficult to assess just who is dictating whom in the long running bitter feud between the Colombian government and FARC rebels. With the hostage release efforts as good as over, both the parties are blaming each other for the blemish, which is certainly to increase the frustration for the families of the hostages. The role of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in this humanitarian deal would also come into question, after he failed to influence the leftist guerillas in handing over the three hostages.
There are two theories to the suspension of the release of the hostages. Firstly, if one takes the side of the pro-US Colombian government, he or she would argue that the rebels are playing with the government and for fear of identity disclosure are not ready to go ahead with this delicate mission.
Furthermore, Bogota is not comfortable with Venezuela’s leftist President taking a lead role in the mission. Many think that for sheer socialistic political gains in a non-socialist Colombia, President Chavez is taking a forefront in his efforts to go ahead with the release deal, he himself might not be sure of pulling it off.
As expected, Hugo Chavez has blamed the hardline Alvaro Uribe government of killing the deal. Clearly, it may seem to many that President Chavez and the FARC are playing with Colombia’s public opinion in a bid to isolate President Uribe in his own country.
On the other hand, given Alvaro Uribe’s extreme policies against the FARC, the rebels are not comfortable with the mission, given a large Colombian army mission in the region. The pro-Chavez and leftists feel that the onus is on the Colombian government to ease its military operations in order to let the deal go through.
Maybe, President Uribe is not comfortable with the hostage release as it could potentially jeopardize the popularity of his military operations against the FARC and if the deal does get through President Chavez would have a lot of supporters within the Colombian population and that is bad news for pro-Washington Uribe.
But, for the sake of humanity, both the parties should come out with a constructive plan to free the hostages. This is not the time to think of personal gains.
Image: Reuters
Source: BBC
