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Betancourt, European Diplomacy and the FARC

I don't think the author is going to be invited to join Ingrid's fan club

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Letter to the Editor, The Wall Street Journal, 19 July 2008, page A8

Betancourt, European Diplomacy and the FARC

The Ingrid Betancourt affair is really too rich with "faux" gratitude. I don't remember ever seeing one case that so pointedly laid out the differences between the U.S. and Europe ("Colombian Kudos," Review & Outlook, July 3).

On the day that Ingrid Betancourt was finally liberated by the Colombian Army (with U.S. support), the Italian Parliament was passing yet another strongly worded and "historic" measure demanding her release. It was the latest of a long, long list of European efforts to affirm their solidarity with Ms. Betancourt. She was made an honorary citizen of Paris and her picture was plastered everywhere.

The entire European campaign was as pompous as it was feckless, useless and patronizing; all, sadly to say, qualities we have now come to associate with Europe.

It was also dangerous. Colombia's duly elected and popular President Alvaro Uribe, caught in an existential struggle with the FARC, the largest guerrilla group in Latin America and recognized as a terrorist organization by both the U.S. and the EU, came under undue pressure from Europe and Ms. Betancourt's family to "negotiate" with those who would destroy his country.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez made good use of Europe's angst about Ms. Betancourt by offering to "mediate." As a carrot, Mr. Chavez demanded that Europe and the world recognize the FARC as legitimate "combatants."

Mr. Uribe, to his great and everlasting credit, refused. Only later, when some recordings were found on a captured FARC guerrilla, did the world have confirmation that Mr. Chavez was bankrolling the FARC and pulling its strings.

Ms. Betancourt was a wealthy Latin American who had grown up in Paris after her father was posted there as Colombia's ambassador to UNESCO. Later she went to Science Po and there met such "luminaries" as Dominique de Villepin, married a French diplomat and gained a French passport.

Imbued with Left Bank idealism, she eventually returned to Colombia to run for president on a platform that included "progressive" activism. It was during her campaign against her rescuer, Mr. Uribe, that she was nabbed by the FARC six years ago.

Ms. Betancourt clearly gave France that which the country craves above all -- she affirmed internationally that "France's message to the world still counts."

Ms. Betancourt has already thanked France and its government, as well as President Chavez and President Rafael Correa of Ecuador; for what, one may ask? There's still no word of any thanks for Mr. Uribe's only ally in the world, which gave her rescue operation so much support, the Bush administration.

Robert F. Agostinelli
Paris
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By Tinto (Moderator) on Jul 21, 2008, 10:26 in Politics & the war.

sloopskipper says on Jul 21, 2008, 10:32:

"There's still no word of any thanks for Mr. Uribe's only ally in the world, which gave her rescue operation so much support, the Bush administration."

How true.

I'm not a big fan of that administration, but without their support, she'd still be with the spiders and snakes.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

nbenjamin says on Jul 22, 2008, 16:32:

Provocative article - and not a single comment.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Sam Salmon says on Jul 22, 2008, 21:27:

"Mr. Robert F. Agostinelli is an Italian American financier based in Paris, France. He is chairman of Rhône Group and is married to Mathilde Agostinelli, head of PR for Prada France. Mr. Agostinelli is very secretive and very little is known of his net worth, let alone his personal life. Although, it can be confirmed through numerous sources, that he is very close to President Nicolas Sarkozy and President W. George Bush among other political leaders. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations."
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"There's still no word of any thanks for Mr. Uribe's only ally in the world"
That is nonsense-give your head a shake!

' a la orden!'

0 funny, 0 helpful.