Red Cross to recover bodies of Colombian lawmakers

By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Sunday it was set to retrieve the corpses of 11 kidnapped Colombian lawmakers, a step toward ending the bitter debate over their June deaths in a secret rebel prison.

Recovering the remains, which Red Cross country chief Barbara Hintermann said would happen over the next few days, should help authorities determine whether the 11 were shot in the cross-fire of a rescue attempt or executed.

It may also set the stage for a Venezuela-brokered swap of other rebel prisoners, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, for guerrillas held in government jails.

"Yesterday we received the details of the location where the remains can be found and the security guarantees we need for the operation," Hintermann told reporters.

Leftist rebels seized the 11 lawmakers more than five years ago by pretending to be soldiers and escorting them out of their provincial capital building in the city of Cali and onto a bus, saying there was a bomb scare.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, says they were killed when an unidentified military group attacked their jungle prison camp. President Alvaro Uribe says there was no army attack and that the FARC murdered the lawmakers.

An international team of scientists will examine the remains to determine how they died. The killings sparked outrage in Colombia and anti-FARC street protests.

News of the Red Cross mission came two days after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he would meet with the rebel group in his country to negotiate a swap of remaining hostages including Betancourt, captured during her 2002 presidential campaign, and three American defense contractors taken in 2003.