CARACAS, Venezuela -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Saturday sought the help of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in securing the release of three Americans held hostage by Colombian rebels for more than five years.
Before meeting with the Democratic governor, Chavez said he hoped to assist, but wasn't sure what he could do.
"He's coming with the mission of trying to help in the rescue of those three Americans who are in the hands of the FARC," Chavez said in a speech, referring to the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
"I don't know if I'm going to be able to continue helping," Chavez said. "I'm going to listen to him, to see how we could."
Richardson, who was to meet with Chavez at the presidential palace on Saturday night, told reporters he would discuss ways to advance a proposed swap of hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.
"I think President Chavez can help and can play a role in this issue," said Richardson, who has previously served as a diplomatic troubleshooter to help free Americans in other countries.
The Spanish-speaking former U.S. presidential candidate and energy secretary said he was visiting Venezuela at the request of the hostages' families.
Three U.S. defense contractors _ Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell _ have been held by the FARC since their plane went down in rebel-held jungles in February 2003.
The FARC has proposed trading high-value hostages for imprisoned guerrillas, and has been long deadlocked with Colombia's U.S.-allied government over the terms.
Chavez called the hostage issue "an internal Colombian problem."
"I only got involved when the two sides asked me to," he said.
The FARC unilaterally freed six hostages to Chavez's socialist government this year. But FARC leader Ivan Marquez, in an interview posted Saturday on the Web site of the Argentine daily newspaper Perfil, said that last month's assassination of rebel commander Raul Reyes by the Colombian army has shut down any possibility of continuing negotiations.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe rejects any role for Chavez in a prisoner swap, accepting as interlocutors only the Roman Catholic Church and three European nations _ France, Switzerland and Spain _ which for years have been involved in trying to broker an end to Colombia's decades-long civil conflict.
Still, in the Perfil interview, Marquez remarked that the mother of French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt "sees in Chavez the only hope, and she's right."
Richardson, who also served as U.N. ambassador under former President Bill Clinton, met with Uribe last month in Colombia. He has previously negotiated the release of American hostages in North Korea, Iraq and Sudan.
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