Press release from Yolanda Pulecio:

I request that the Government appoint a representative or a negotiator specially entrusted with the humanitarian agreement with the FARC guerrillas.

Yolanda Pulecio, Ingrid Betancourt's, mother (Ingrid: former presidential candidate, and founder of the Oxygeno Verde party) is openly requesting the president of the Colombian Republic, Alvaro Uribe, to appoint a representative or a negotiator specially entrusted with the humanitarian agreement with the FARC guerrillas.

Yolanda Pulecio asserts: "I have persistently requested a meeting with president Alvaro Uribe, and this was not possible; I am, therefore, compelled to make this request to him publicly: that he name a person who has his complete trust, so that he can immediately start humanitarian negotiations with the guerrillas, to reach a swift agreement for the release of Ingrid and the other people kidnapped".

It is vital that this topic not be placed on the back burner, and for the time being the High Commissioner for Peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo, is too busy with the Ralito negotiation (Editor's note: with the extreme right paramilitaries).

"Therefore," she added "it is necessary for someone to devote the same enthusiasm to seeking a humanitarian agreement, because we are very worried by the situation of abandonment that those kidnapped are experiencing in the heart of the Colombian forest, with the dangers that military operations inflict on them".

Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped by FARC on 23 February 2002 while on presidential campaign. It has now been over three years since she was deprived of her freedom, just like many other Colombians who were kidnapped four, five, six, seven and up to eight years ago already.

Translation from French 2005: Miriam Lee e:interpreter@eircom.net