France asks for Venezuela's help on hostage

A man holds a placard with the picture of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt during a march against the FARC`s abductions at Bolivar Square on Friday in Bogota. A three-nation humanitarian mission has been launched to help the French-Colombian hostage, who is believed to be gravely ill, French President Nicolas Sarkozy`s office said. PHOTO: AFP

France asked Venezuela for help on Friday with a hurried mission to free an ailing hostage held by Colombian rebels, but Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he is powerless to act until Colombia and the US back off their hunt of a rebel leader.

Paris announced that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is willing to travel with Venezuela’s leftist president to the Colombian-Venezuelan border to try to secure the release of Ingrid Betancourt. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner made the announcement in an interview with Associated Press Television News.

Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate who also has French nationality, is in her seventh year of captivity in the jungles of southeast Colombia. She is among hundreds of people, including three US contractors, held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Chavez, who negotiated earlier FARC hostage releases, said he wants to help, but indicated the US and Colombia should first stop trying to catch the rebel commander known as Ivan Marquez, a member of the FARC’s ruling secretariat.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said he does not know who Marquez is.