euro|topics - Betancourt is free: a failure for Sarkozy?

04/07/2009

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Main focus of Friday, July 4, 2008

Betancourt is free: a failure for Sarkozy?

The former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt is free. The politician, who also possesses French citizenship, was held hostage for six years by the Colombian FARC guerilla organisation. French President Nicolas Sarkozy had hoped for a diplomatic solution, but Betancourt was ultimately liberated through a military operation. A foreign policy failure for Sarkozy?

La Repubblica - Italy

La Repubblica sees Ingrid Betancourt's liberation as the triumph of Colombia's more aggressive strategy over France's bargaining tactics. "[Colombian President] Álvaro Uribe meted out his diplomacy carefully; he kept his American allies, who have supported the Colombian army for five years, up to date while saying nothing to the French, who placed too much emphasis on the need to negotiate and on the mediation of Hugo Chavez, no friend of Uribe's. ... This gambit was not just a military success and proof that the FARC can be infiltrated; it is also a political triumph. Sarkozy has conceded this. He decided not to travel to Bogotá and instead to be content with receiving Ingrid Betancourt in Paris today. His joy is somewhat dampened by his regret at only having played a minor part in the action." (04/07/2008)

Die Presse - Austria

The daily Die Presse calls the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of negotiations: "This is one of the platitudes that many 'good people' accept unquestioningly, like horoscopes on the astrology pages: there can be no military solutions to conflicts. ... Now the FARC has lost the jewel among its cynical collection of hostages: former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. ... War should never be an end in itself, but should always have a goal. That was what old Clausewitz called politics by other means. Anyone who excludes military operations from the outset might feel better about himself, but he risks strengthening his opponent to the extent that negotiations are precluded altogether." (04/07/2008)

De Volkskrant - Netherlands

After the military action which liberated former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, the newspaper De Volkskrant makes a plea for diplomacy in further dealings with the FARC: "The spectacular operation would seem to prove those people right who categorically reject negotiating with terrorists. But that conclusion is premature. Plenty of examples of liberation operations that have gone terribly wrong show the need to consider every option in such cases. ... Even if the FARC is now considerably weakened, guerilla movements are notoriously hard to defeat. Political means to shorten the futile conflict and liberate the remaining hostages must not be ignored." (04/07/2008)

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

For the Süddeutsche Zeitung Betancourt's rescue represents a triumph for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe over the European mediators. "Hardly anyone in Colombia can doubt that Uribe's poll results will break all the records. ... The former presidential candidate for a Green alliance and the conservative neo-liberal president have little in common politically - except the conviction that taking hostages should not be rewarded. ... European mediators like Nicolas Sarkozy, who even offered to take in released rebels, have failed to understand this. They were doomed to failure because they do not know the law of the jungle." (04/07/2008)

» To the complete press review of Friday, July 4, 2008

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