Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will meet with his Colombian counterpart this month in an offer to help mediate a prisoner-hostage exchange with Colombia's largest rebel group, a Colombian senator said Friday. Sen. Piedad Cordoba, who met with Chavez a day earlier, announced the planned meeting with President Alvaro Uribe at a news conference in the Venezuelan capital, though she did not name a date or place for the meeting."We are going to dedicate ourselves to achieve freedom for the hostages," said Cordoba, who has received permission from Uribe to facilitate a possible prisoner exchange with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The FARC repeatedly has expressed support for the socialist Chavez, who also maintains cooperative relations with Colombia's conservative president.
The FARC holds hundreds of hostages, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors. They seek to exchange them for imprisoned guerrillas and a temporary demilitarized zone.
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