Kofi Annan and asked him to mediate. Annan accepted but only if the two parties agreed. The negotiations through spokesmen started. Gustavo Moncayo On June 17, 2007, Professor Gustavo Moncayo, father of a soldier held by the FARC guerrillas since 1997, began to walk as protest from his hometown Sandoná, in the department of Nariño, southern Colombia, to Bogotá, seeking to promote an agreement for the release of his son Pablo Emilio. He was accompanied by his daughter along the Pan-American Highway, stopping in every town he found on his path to have a rest and to collect signatures for a petition to President Álvaro Uribe to conduct a prisoner exchange. Mediation by France While president of France, Jacques Chirac exerted political pressure on the Uribe administration to persuade him to accept the FARC demands and achieve the humanitarian exchange. Uribe conditioned the offer and suggested that the imprisoned guerrillas would be liberated in France instead of Colombia. This was later discarded by the FARC. As a candidate Nicolas Sarkozy reassured his intentions to push for the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt and the other hostages held by the FARC. Mediation by Hugo Chávez President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez was contacted by Colombian liberal senator Piedad Córdoba to bargain a negotiation for the "humanitarian exchange". President Uribe authorized his mediation with the condition that the meetings between him and the FARC occurred in Venezuelan territory. On November 5, 2007, Chávez announced that members of the Secretariat of the FARC (higher command) were in Venezuela. Meeting with the FARC On November 8, 2007, Chávez met at the Palacio de Miraflores with alias "Iván Márquez" one of the highest members of the FARC and members of its secretariat. Márquez is considered one of the most radical political leaders of the FARC. Chávez announced that the FARC wanted the demilitarization of the municipalities of Florida and Pradera in the Department of Valle del Cauca and also asked for a meeting between Chávez and alias "Manuel Marulanda Velez" leader of the FARC in the Region of Yari. The Yari is considered a historic enclave by the FARC, but after the military offensives of Plan Colombia and Plan Patriota these were pushed out from the area. The region of Yari is located within the Department of Vichada, near the border with Venezuela and Brazil. To these Chávez publicly asked Uribe for the creation of the demilitarized