Were the Colombian hostages ransomed, not rescued?
Were the hostages in Colombia really ransomed? Swiss public radio is reporting that the FARC were paid millions for their release. In other words, that wasn't a rescue, it was a ransom. If true this would be really interesting.
The rescue version of the story, is believable, even if unusual. The Colombian army doesn't normally opt for non-violent methods in their rescue attempts (their rescue attempts usually involve lots of shooting and the hostages usually end up dead which is why kidnapped people in Colombia almost always ask NOT to be rescued!). But a whole new modus operandi for the military is not unthinkable, especially since despite unprecedented new international support from Venezuela and Ecuador, the FARC seems quite weak these days and have been suffering some setbacks lately. With the death of long-time leader Manuel Marulanda (aka Tirofijo, Sureshot) some say the oldest guerrilla group in the country is in decline. I could see some commanders fucking up like this and would expect to find that those deemed culpable by the FARC higher-ups will pay a very dear price for it, if they haven't already.
But the theory that this wasn't a happy confluence of luck and an unusual change of heart by the government, is certainly not too much of a stretch. If the U.S. --maybe under pressure from France?-- had a part in paying a ransom they would certainly not want to admit as much (because you know, we don't negotiate with terrorists!) But why would the U.S. who let these guys languish in the jungle nearly forgotten for so long, suddenly want them back enough to pay millions? Even if they were CIA (click here to read about who they were and what they were doing down there), they were just doing grunt work (spraying the Colombian countryside with highly toxic insecticide as part of an ineffective --not to mention immoral-- strategy to combat the cultivation of coca, the plant from which cocaine is derived) and didn't seem to be high enough up the hierarchy to merit much concern until now.
France, however, has been consistently concerned with the welfare of the more high profile Ingrid Betancourt and French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to make it a priority of his administration to free her. See this statement he made a year ago about it. I don't know enough about US-French relationships to know how much sway the French could've had to get the US to go along with this plan, but maybe it was primarily a French affair and only required getting us to not stand in the way.
And here's another thing I wondered about too:
Other blog reactions:
PhoenixWoman
WhiteLight/BlackLight
The rescue version of the story, is believable, even if unusual. The Colombian army doesn't normally opt for non-violent methods in their rescue attempts (their rescue attempts usually involve lots of shooting and the hostages usually end up dead which is why kidnapped people in Colombia almost always ask NOT to be rescued!). But a whole new modus operandi for the military is not unthinkable, especially since despite unprecedented new international support from Venezuela and Ecuador, the FARC seems quite weak these days and have been suffering some setbacks lately. With the death of long-time leader Manuel Marulanda (aka Tirofijo, Sureshot) some say the oldest guerrilla group in the country is in decline. I could see some commanders fucking up like this and would expect to find that those deemed culpable by the FARC higher-ups will pay a very dear price for it, if they haven't already.
But the theory that this wasn't a happy confluence of luck and an unusual change of heart by the government, is certainly not too much of a stretch. If the U.S. --maybe under pressure from France?-- had a part in paying a ransom they would certainly not want to admit as much (because you know, we don't negotiate with terrorists!) But why would the U.S. who let these guys languish in the jungle nearly forgotten for so long, suddenly want them back enough to pay millions? Even if they were CIA (click here to read about who they were and what they were doing down there), they were just doing grunt work (spraying the Colombian countryside with highly toxic insecticide as part of an ineffective --not to mention immoral-- strategy to combat the cultivation of coca, the plant from which cocaine is derived) and didn't seem to be high enough up the hierarchy to merit much concern until now.
France, however, has been consistently concerned with the welfare of the more high profile Ingrid Betancourt and French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to make it a priority of his administration to free her. See this statement he made a year ago about it. I don't know enough about US-French relationships to know how much sway the French could've had to get the US to go along with this plan, but maybe it was primarily a French affair and only required getting us to not stand in the way.
And here's another thing I wondered about too:
The more I think about it, the more I find the ransom version of the story more credible. For what it's worth, I don't know how much it matters. The hostages are free and that's good. Uribe's reaping the benefits of soaring popularity and that's not-so-good. And some FARC commanders just got a whole lot richer. Which, even minus possible (likely?) corruption, probably doesn't matter all that much. $20 million isn't all that much to fight a war with. In fact, I wonder if the fact that they let go of their biggest bargaining chips a further sign of weakness/desperation. Even with this new revelation, things are not looking good for them.French media have also raised questions about Ms Betancourt’s relatively healthy appearance after her release, compared with the gaunt and haggard look of her last video from captivity. French state radio suggested the hostages may have been given food and medicine to return them to health before their release. There was no suggestion that the hostages knew they were to be released.
Dominique Moisi, one of France's leading foreign policy experts, said that it was “probable” that the Farc had been paid money as part of the "infiltration" of their command. “They were bought in order to turn them around, like Mafia chiefs," he said on French state television, as Ms Betancourt's plane was taxiing up to the terminal in Paris.
Other blog reactions:
PhoenixWoman
WhiteLight/BlackLight
No lo creo, qué van a saber en Suiza de Colombia.
Me alegro mucho de esta liberación, por Ingrid y su país. ¿Hay corrupción en ese país? Seguro que sí, es un problema común en Sudamérica, pero pienso que Uribe está haciendo un buen trabajo en general. Ya sé que tú no le tienes simpatía y no te gusta, creo que te equivocas, pero no importa.. ¡Buena suerte! :-)
Posted by: Danny G. | Saturday, July 05, 2008 at 02:58 PM