“If they had not killed this guerrilla, she may even have been freed, because on March 14 and 15 they had planned to release 12 more hostages, my wife among them,” Juan Carlos Lecompte told a press conference during a visit to Chile at the invitation of the recently formed Ecology Party.
FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) second-in-command Raúl Reyes was killed in the bombing raid on March 1, along with some 20 other rebels.
Lecompte reiterated his confidence in Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, whose negotiations secured the release of six hostages this year.
“He is the only one who has obtained results and the only person in the world that FARC listens to,” Lecompte said.
He said he regretted that the death of Reyes meant a delay in hostage releases, but added that positive negotiations were continuing.
Betancourt, a French-Colombian politician, was kidnapped in 2002 while campaigning as a candidate for Colombia’s presidential election. She is being held in the Colombian jungles and is in very poor health, recently released hostages have said.