[Marxism] Fidel Castro Urges FARC To Release Remaining Hostages

[Walter Lippmann]

Here's the full text of Fidel's reflection on Colombia yesterday:
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2008/ing/f050708i.html

And Fidel's previous comment on Colombia from Thursday:
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2008/ing/f030708i.html
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Fidel Castro Urges FARC To Release Remaining Hostages
July 6, 2008

HAVANA (AFP)--Cuba's former president Fidel Castro has urged the 
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to free its remaining 
hostages, after the rescue last week by Colombian commandos of 15 captives 
held by the Marxist rebels.

Castro, however, cautioned that the leftist guerrillas should not lay down 
their weapons, warning that as a rule, fighters who have done so over the 
past half-century "did not survive to see the peace."

"I have openly and energetically criticized the objectively cruel methods of
kidnapping and holding prisoners in the jungle," Castro wrote in an Internet
article posted late Saturday, just days after Colombia's military rescued 
the group's most prized hostages.

"If I may dare to suggest something to the FARC guerrillas, it is that they
simply, by whatever means at their disposal, declare that they have 
unconditionally freed all the hostages and prisoners still under their 
control."

The FARC continues to hold several hundred hostages, although its most 
valuable captives were among the 15 - including French-Colombian politician 
Ingrid Betancourt and three American defense contractors - rescued Wednesday 
by Colombian soldiers, who infiltrated a FARC jungle hideout and tricked 
guerrillas into handing them over.

In a separate article on Thursday, Castro praised the Colombian army's 
rescue of the hostages and said they should never have been held.

The ailing former president, 81, leader of Cuba's 1959 Marxist revolution, 
is an ideological kindred spirit with the FARC and an inspiration for the 
rebel group, as well as millions of other radicals and leftists across Latin 
America.

Castro gave up power two years ago after a half-century's rule of Cuba for 
health reasons, and ceding power to his brother Raul Castro, who formally 
took over as president in February.


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     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo"
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