Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has pardoned 41 Colombian men convicted of a plot to overthrow him in 2004 as a “gesture of goodwill”. The men, who belong to a right-wing Colombian paramilitary group, were among more than 100 others arrested on a ranch near Caracas where they were planning an attack on the presidential palace.

Chavez has returned the men to Colombia where he plans to work as a mediator between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), an illegally armed communist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia. Chavez seeks to broker an exchange of rebels held by the Colombian government for hostages held by FARC. He will be meeting with a high-ranking representative of FARC “to begin the search for solutions”. It is expected that the leftist leader will be able to negotiate between the Marxist guerrillas and the right-wing Colombian government.

Colombia’s Justice Minister said that with Chavez’s pardon “a beautiful message is being sent to the world”. The anti-imperialist Venezuelan president then traveled to the capital of Colombia to mediate plans with the country’s President Álvaro Uribe (a strong US-ally) for the end of the 40-year-long civil conflict. FARC has demanded a demilitarized zone the size of New York City, where a hostage exchange can take place. The organization is also demanding that two of its members held by the United States also be released. Unfortunately for FARC and Colombia in general, George W. Bush is no Hugo Chavez.

Despite the fact that President Uribe has outright refused the idea of a demilitarized zone in the country, Chavez remained optimistic. “Nothing is impossible when you put your heart into what you do,” he said. “If I had to go to the gates of hell to try achieve the humanitarian accord in Colombia, I’d be willing.”

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