[R-G] Fidel Castro in Farc hostage plea

[Anthony Fenton]

Fidel Castro in Farc hostage plea
Fidel Castro (June 08)
Castro criticised the Farc for using "cruel methods of kidnapping"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7492506.stm

Cuba's former President Fidel Castro has called on the Colombian Farc  
rebel movement to release all of its remaining hostages.

His comments follow the rescue of Colombian politician Ingrid  
Betancourt and 14 others on Wednesday.

He said he had energetically criticised the "cruel methods of  
kidnapping and holding prisoners in the jungle".

But at the same time, Mr Castro added the rebel movement should not  
lay down its weapons.

He said that, during the past 50 years, those rebel groups that had  
yielded "did not survive to see the peace".

"I have openly and energetically criticised the objectively cruel  
methods of kidnapping and holding prisoners in the jungle," he wrote  
in an internet article posted on Sunday.

"If I may dare to suggest something to the Farc guerrillas, it is that  
they simply, by whatever means at their disposal, declare that they  
have unconditionally freed all the hostages and prisoners still under  
their control."

Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba served as an inspiration to the Farc  
when it formed in the 1960s.

BBC Americas analyst Warren Bull says that with their movement in  
disarray the rebels may decide that the advice of a master strategist  
like Fidel Castro is not to be ignored if they want to ensure their  
long-term survival.

In June, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on them to end their  
four-decade struggle and release all their hostages.

Tricked

Earlier, Ms Betancourt said she was planning to write a play about her  
experience of being held hostage by the Colombian rebels for six years.

Ingrid Betancourt in Paris
Ms Betancourt wants to write a play about her captivity

She also said she had been given a clean bill of health after  
undergoing medical tests following her release from the Colombian  
jungle on Wednesday.

The former Colombian presidential candidate, who has dual French- 
Colombian nationality, was freed along with 14 other hostages after  
their captors were apparently tricked into handing them over to army  
personnel disguised as independent agency staff.

On Friday Ms Betancourt - who grew up, studied and raised her family  
in France - was flown from Colombia to Paris on a French presidential  
plane.