Noticias
Daily Press Briefing
Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
February 27, 2008
QUESTION: Colombia. This morning, the FARC released three hostages. How do you read this? It was as a result of the mediation of President Chavez. How do you react about this?
MR. CASEY: Well, first of all, we’ve seen the reports of the hostage release and we’re very grateful that that has happened. Unfortunately, of course, it also points out the fact that these people – and I understand that the – they are former members of the Colombia congress and that some have been held for as long as six years. It’s still reprehensible that the FARC ever took these individuals hostage in the first place. And it’s equally reprehensible that they continue to hold hostages, including our American citizen contractors who have now spent several years in captivity. And we call on the FARC to release all the hostages that they have and to assure their safety in the interim. We will of course, continue to work with President Uribe and the Colombian Government to do what we can to help ensure the safe and secure release of American hostages. And we continue to be heartened by the fact that he and the Government of Colombia have continued to make it clear that they will not treat hostages differently because of their nationality.
QUESTION: And how will you understand the mediation of President Chavez? You know, how hard is that for Colombia because he’s not a friend of President Uribe?
MR. CASEY: Well, look, you know, we respect and want to work with President Uribe and the Government of Colombia as we move forward on it. We’ve always said that to the extent that the Colombian Government believes the good offices of any other individuals is helpful or appropriate, that is certainly something we’d support. As to how this will or won’t affect relations between Colombia and Venezuela, I think we’ll leave that to the Colombians to discuss.
QUESTION: Last question.
MR. CASEY: Okay.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) Ivan Marquez has said that the American hostages are going to be in the FARC, hence the same time that the America has Simon Trinidad (inaudible) in the jails. What do you think about that?
MR. CASEY: Well, first of all, there is absolutely no comparison between three American citizens who were in Colombia to try and help the people and Government of Colombia deal with the threat and challenges posed by drug trafficking, and Simon Trinidad, who, of course, is now a convicted felon, tried in a court of law, convicted on charges and now serving a sentence. There’s no equivalence between the two and it’s absolutely ridiculous to make any equivalency between them.
We believe that hostage-taking under any circumstances is not justified and that’s why, again, we call on the FARC to release all the hostages they hold: American, Colombian and any other nationalities. But you know, in the case of Simon Trinidad, again, he was tried and convicted in a court of law, and I have every expectation that he will fully serve the sentence handed down to him.
Yeah.