Chavez may meet with FARC representatives

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A spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has proposed meeting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas on Oct. 8, a symbolically important date in that it is the anniversary of the 1967 killing of mythic leftist guerrilla Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara in Bolivia.

This month, Chavez got the green light from Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to mediate talks with rebels with the goal of effecting an exchange of some 45 high-profile hostages FARC is holding for hundreds of guerrilla prisoners in the hands of the government.

The spokesman told Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba during talks last week at an unidentified jungle rebel base that his meeting with Chavez would be a preliminary encounter, followed by a reunion of Chavez with longtime FARC leader Manuel Marulanda. But where that meeting will occur is already a bone of contention. Chavez has said twice publicly that he wants to meet Marulanda in the Colombian jungle, whereas Uribe maintains that any such summit must take place in Venezuela.

Posted by Chris Kraul in Bogotá