Colombia rules out Chavez-FARC meet in jungle camps

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's government ruled out on Monday a suggestion by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that he meet with guerrilla leaders in their jungle hide-out as part of his effort to broker a deal to free rebel-held hostages.

The Venezuelan president last month stepped in to act as a mediator and try to end a deadlock between conservative President Alvaro Uribe and the leftist FARC guerrillas over releasing hostages held for years in secret jungle camps.

Chavez, who has become the most visible face of Latin America's leftist politics, had said he will meet with a FARC representative in Venezuela, but suggested on Sunday that he could travel to rebel camps deep in the Colombian jungle for negotiations with the guerrilla leader Manuel Marulanda.

"What is in the works is a meeting between a FARC delegate and President Chavez in Venezuelan territory," Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo told reporters. "We haven't received any request from President Chavez for a meeting with the FARC in Colombia and neither do we see that as viable."

Colombia's conflict has eased under a U.S.-backed security campaign by Uribe, but he is under pressure to help hostages who have been held for years, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans snatched a year after.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pushed Uribe and the FARC to reach an accord to exchange hostages for jailed rebels. But talks were stymied by the FARC's demand that Uribe demilitarize a safe haven.

Uribe initially agreed to a European proposal for a such a haven, but he has refused to pull back troops as the rebels would like because he says the FARC will use the area to regroup as it did under a similar deal in the late 1990s.

The kidnap victims' families hope Chavez's left-wing credentials and growing regional influence can pressure the FARC into talks over releasing hostages, some of whom have been held for almost a decade.