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French minister to visit Caracas for hostage crisis talks

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday he spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy about the Colombian hostage crisis and it was agreed French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner would visit Caracas for more consultations.

"Today I spoke with ... Sarkozy about some issues, above all the humanitarian exchange" of hostages for jailed rebels between the Colombian government and leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, Chavez said on state-run VTV television.

"We'll be happy to receive the French foreign minister next Feb. 20 to talk about this issue," he said.

France has been increasingly involved in Colombia's hostage crisis since the rebels kidnapped French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betencourt when she was campaigning for the Colombian presidency in 2002.

Chavez said Kouchner's visit would provide "assessment and more details" to Sarkozy about FARC's Feb. 3 announcement that they would release three Colombian lawmakers they have been holding captive for seven years.

FARC said it was prepared to release Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Perez and Orlando Beltran -- all captured in 2001 -- "unilaterally because of the state of their health."

The three lawmakers are among 43 high-profile hostages, including three Americans, whom the FARC wants to exchange for 500 rebels held in Colombian prisons.

The rebel group already released two hostages last month -- a lawmaker and a former aide and running mate of Betancourt -- to Chavez, whose leftist regime sympathizes with the Marxist FARC leadership.

Chavez said Sarkozy reiterated his trust in the Venezuelan government's efforts in Colombia's hostage crisis.

The FARC, which is accused of holding some 750 people hostage, is classified as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU.
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