Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey will visit Bogota on Aug. 11 to strengthen dialogue with Colombia, Swiss Ambassador to Colombia Thomas Kupfer said Friday.
"For a long time, there has not been a visit from a high-level Swiss official to Colombia and we are happy to have this friendly dialogue of positive content," Kupfer told the press.
Switzerland announced the visit after Colombian Prosecutor's Office requested a probe on Jean-Pierre Gontard, who was a Swiss envoy to mediate hostage release by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Switzerland, which was part of international mediating efforts in dealing with the FARC that also included Spain and France, said Gontard was not an official representative of the Swiss government.
However, Calmy-Rey urged attacks on Gontard to be stopped.
According to e-mails obtained from the rebels, Gontard used offensive words when talking about Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Analysts say it is only a strategy to win the rebels' trust.
Gontard was also accused of giving 500,000 U.S. dollars to the FARC in Costa Rica.
The Swiss government said that two employees from drug maker Novartis were freed following Gontard's intervention in 2001, but he "was never the carrier of the money" who enabled the employees' release.
Source: Xinhua
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