Bogota - The Colombian government said Monday that it will not accept another international humanitarian mission like the one that failed to free three hostages last week. Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo said such a group "serves only to create a favourable scene for FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) in the international community."
The international team sought to secure the release of former Colombian vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas and her son Emmanuel, born in captivity, along with former legislator Consuelo Gonzalez.
FARC called off the operation citing dangers to security, but Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said the failed to release the hostages was because one of them, the young Emmanuel, is actually under state custody. Subsequent DNA tests showed there was a "high probability" that a boy who has been in a child protection facility since 2005 is Rojas' son.
Araujo expressed his displeasure that the mission recently led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez did not appear to trust the authorities in Bogota.
"The commission that came to Villavicencio arrived with a very heavy discourse against the Colombian government and with a discourse very favourable to FARC, always casting doubt on the reports the government issued and registering as true the guerrilla's lies," Araujo told reporters.
Former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007), representatives from Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Cuba and Venezuela, and Hollywood director Oliver Stone were part of the group seeking to free the three hostages.
"Some members of that commission, after hearing of the identity of Emmanuel and after learning that the true reason why (FARC) would not release the hostages is that they did not have Emmanuel, still doubt the transparency and the sincerity of the reports that the Colombian government has filed," Araujo said.
However, he stressed there are still other mechanisms in case FARC decide to fulfil their promise to release Rojas and Gonzalez.
"There are mechanisms that can fulfil the mission, like the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organs that have experience in this, and not last-minute humanitarian commissions that bring bad results," Araujo said.
The team in the Colombian town of Villavicencio last week "did not have sufficient analytical ability or credibility in the face of the Colombian government to accept the facts," he said.
