Bogota Blogger

A few days ago, there was a lot of news about three FARC hostages being released, in a deal brokered by Hugo Chavez after the Colombian George Bush, President Alvaro Uribe, had told Chavez he could no longer negotiate for Colombia with the rebels. The rebels announced that they would unilaterally release Ingrid Betancourt’s campaign manager, Clara Rojas, and her 3 or 4 year old son, apparently a Stockholm Syndrome child, and another hostage who is a former Colombian congresswoman. This was all supposed to happen two days ago, and some Venezuelan helicopters were allowed to fly to Villavicencio, a town outside Bogota, to wait for further instructions about where to pick up the hostages in the jungle. Chavez went there, of course, along with some politicians invited by him and even Oliver Stone, a film director from the US. In order to show that he is still in charge, the Colombian George Bush gave them a 7:00PM Sunday deadline. And, he decided to show up himself at the scene, to get in on the credit taking when the time came.

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