Army May Pull Back for Hostage Negotiations

Colombia said it was prepared to withdraw troops from around a small mountain town to facilitate negotiations with Marxist rebels for the freedom of 63 hostages.

President Alvaro Uribe said he accepted the proposal by France, Spain and Switzerland to break a deadlock with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on starting talks to discuss the release of rebels in return for the hostages, who include a former presidential candidate and three Americans. There was no word on whether the rebels had accepted the plan.

Uribe, who has taken a hard line against rebels, acknowledged that he was making a concession to ease “the pain ... of so many Colombian families whose relatives have been kidnapped.”