ALBUQUERQUE — Gov. Bill Richardson, back from his latest trip on behalf of U.S. citizens held hostage abroad, says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is ready to help restart negotiations for the release of three Americans held for five years by Colombian rebels.
Richardson told The Associated Press after Saturday’s meeting with Chavez that it was “very productive.” But he did not divulge any specifics.
“This is a very difficult negotiation because you’re dealing with a rebel group that’s out in the jungle,” the governor said Sunday on his return to New Mexico. “You don’t know where they are. You don’t know what they want.”
The U.S. defense contractors — Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell — have been held by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) since their plane went down in a jungle in February 2003.
During his weekly radio and television address, Chavez said he told Richardson “that we’re at their service, to try to help even though the issue is very complicated.”
Chavez helped pave the way for the release of six captives this year. But on Sunday, he reiterated claims that his government has lost contact with FARC leaders.
Richardson said he will put forward a proposal for the release of the trio in the coming weeks and that Chavez is willing to work with him as a “primary mediator.”
Richardson has stressed that he visited Venezuela not as an official envoy but at the request of the hostages’ families. But he said he got support from the Bush administration.
Richardson, a former presidential candidate, U.N. ambassador, energy secretary and congressman, has in past years negotiated the release of Americans held in North Korea, Iraq and Sudan.
