CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) — US President George W. Bush and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Monday discussed the potential release of three Colombian hostages held by leftist rebels, the White House said.
Uribe gave Bush the latest information about efforts to free the three from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), "noting that various issues were still being worked out," said spokesman Scott Stanzel.
Uribe was set to travel to Villavicencio, Colombia, Monday to meet international guarantors monitoring the potential release, as officials awaited word from the FARC on where and when the handover might occur.
The operation to retrieve the hostages has advanced in fits and starts as a FARC patrol makes its way cautiously through the jungle with the hostages -- among them a three-year-old boy -- and international envoys wait for them to give coordinates for the handover.
Bush, poised to ring in 2008 at his Texas ranch, also assured Uribe of his "strong support" for winning US congressional approval of the embattled US-Colombia free trade agreement, said Stanzel.
The two leaders exchanged New Year's "best wishes" and reaffirmed "the strong relationship between the United States and Colombia," the spokesman said.
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