Betancourt to Paris

Former FARC hostage and presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt arrived in Paris today for a visit following her release from captivity in the Colombian jungle. The audacious operation that freed her and other captives proves to be another success on the part of the Colombian government against the Colombian Rebels.

I think it's worth noting just because in the headlong shift towards the Left in Latin America has not taken hold in Colombia- in fact, President Uribe is one of the few rightist leaders in the region (Felipe Calderon of Mexico is the other major one) and his government has had increasing success against the rebels and the drug lords. In the 90s, Colombia was on the verge of total chaos- and the fact that it is slowly turning around is a success story that is being overlooked.

Details of the operation have been coming out for a couple of days now and it's looking like the implications of the operation will be extreme and far reaching. The fact that it was accomplished without a single shot being fired suggests a level of infiltration that probably means the Colombian government is getting awesome intelligence from spies within FARC. And per the BBC, the loss of these high profile hostages puts the kybosh on any hoped for prisoner swap on the part of FARC. This was a big defeat for them- and hopefully Betancourt returns to politics and runs for the Presidency- and hopefully she wins.