I salute you, commander Chavez, from the mountains of Columbia. I’m accompanied by Piedad Cordoba, my compatriot, who is here to greet me. We wish to come to a humanitarian agreement , an agreement that the FARC has militated for five years, but which, unfortunately, could never be carried out. I’m sure that with your assistance we can reach our goal: to release all the prisoners. I congratulate you for your excellent work in this area. I also want to thank commander Ortega for his efforts, as well as president Lula, president Sarkozy, and all of those who endeavour to complete this humanitarian agreement.”

Piedad Cordoba’s intervention into the negotiations between president Hugo Chavez and representatives of the FARC seem a little suspicious, but they did initiate the greatest possibility until now of a humanitarian agreement being met and the hostages getting back to their families.

I hope that the photos of Cordoba [smiling beside FARC soldiers] means that the end of the tunnel is close. The Colombians must make sure that the hostages don’t get killed in a rescue operation, or hung by guerrillas, to economise on bullets. Because for them, ammunition is worth more than the lives of the hostages, whether they’re civilians, police officers, or military men.

Piedad Cordoba must prove to the Columbians that the country’s political accord with Chavez will lead to solid progress.

Mrs senator, relieve us of our doubts!"

Some see the end of negotiations with Chavez as an unwillingness, on Uribe's part, to reach a solution to the hostage crisis. Days pass and we’re at the edge of a rupture in diplomatic relations [between Venezuela and Colombia], following heated disputes between the two presidents.

But President Uribe explained, in a speech in the Calamar region of neighbouring Bolivia, that he’s come to realise the true intentions of President Chavez and Senator Piedad Cordoba. Under the pretext of a humane agreement, they were attempting to export Chavez’s political project to Colombia."

I think it’s a shame that Uribe stopped the negotiations between Cordoba and Chavez. But I was surprised that Uribe let Chávez get involved in such a sensitive issue in the first place. I think like everyone I was a bit surprised.

I think that Uribe was under pressure both internally and at an international level. Now I don’t know what will happen. We have a significant Colombian population in Venezuela- emigrants and their descendants. And trade between our countries will become complicated, for example with the gas pipeline that was installed just before the conflict. It seemed that relations between Chávez and Uribe were improving. And then, suddenly, we find ourselves at a dead end again.”