US says 'good words' from Chavez on rebels

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez uttered "good words" when he urged Colombian rebels to end their insurgency and free all their hostages, but action is now needed, a senior US official said Monday.

"Those are certainly good words," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters when asked to comment on Chavez's remarks about the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The Venezuelan government must follow up "with concrete actions" as well as "make every effort, public and private, to distance itself from any relationship it may have had with the FARC," McCormack added.

"And I say that based on the news reports that we have seen concerning a relationship in the past between Venezuela and the FARC," he said.

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