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Director Rips Bush in Colombia Hostage Drama

Posted Jan 7, 08 3:40 CST in World 

(Newser) – Maverick Hollywood director Oliver Stone had a front-row seat on the scene of the failed hostage rescue mission in Colombia last month—and has returned blaming that nation's government and President Bush. "Shame on Bush,” Stone told the Guardian. Colombian rebels reneged on a deal to free two female politicians and a child, saying stepped up military operations in the area made release too dangerous.

Stone believes both the Colombian government and the US undermined the mission because they didn't want to be upstaged by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who headed the operation. Stone, who’s developing a documentary on US-Latin American relations, told the Guardian that the US treats Latin America like a backyard where it can “throw trash." He praised the controversial Chavez as an "honest man and a soldier."
Source: Guardian (UK)

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U.S. film director Oliver Stone, waves to journalists upon his arrival to Villavicencio's airport in southern Colombia, Saturday, Dec.29, 2007. A mission to retrieve three rebel-held hostages from Colombia's...   (Associated Press)
U.S. film director Oliver Stone talks to a journalist, unseen, at a military base in Villavicencio, Colombia, Monday, Dec. 31, 2007. A mission to retrieve three rebel-held hostages from Colombia's jungles...   (Associated Press)
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gestures while speaking to the media prior to a meeting with relatives of the Colombian hostages at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Monday, Dec. 31, 2007....   (Associated Press)
In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez greets Clara de Rojas, mother of Colombian hostage Clara Rojas at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Monday,...   (Associated Press)
Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe speaks to the media at a military base in Villavicencio, Colombia, Monday, Dec. 31, 2007. A Venezuelan-led mission to rescue three hostages held by leftist rebels in...   (Associated Press)
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George W. Bush • United States • Colombia • hostage • Hugo Chávez • FARC • Latin America • Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia • Oliver Stone


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