They say the devil is in the details, n'est pas? Well, it looks there might have been a big devil in that daring rescue of the Colombian hostages a few days back.
Certain European media outlets are reporting that the rescue, which freed French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans and has gotten Alvaro Uribe some much-needed good press, may not have been as brilliantly conceived as the Colombians are putting on. In fact, it may have been a staged end to a $20 million ransom payment to the FARC organized by the Colombians and the U.S. Sacrebleu!
Now, I'm not sayin' that the allegation is true, I'm just sayin' that it's interesting. And since I'm a bit of a conspiracy buff, let's flush out why it might seem plausible that the Colombians would pay such a hefty ransom.
Uribe hasn't had what we would call a good last few months. First he gets hit with that ongoing paramilitary scandal linking family members and prominent supporters to right-wing death squads. Then he briefly invades Ecuador, much to the chagrin of his regional neighbors. Afterwards, the U.S. Congress refuses to vote on a free trade agreement he's been lusting after. Then, the UN reports that coca cultivation in Colombia has actually increased, the $600 million in U.S. anti-drug aid notwithstanding. More recently, the Colombian Supreme Court questions his 2006 re-election, forcing Uribe to propose that they just re-do the whole thing and throwing into doubt his always questionable democratic credentials. For the U.S.'s favorite Latin American ally, none of this looks good, especially when they're constantly trying to villify the evil Hugo Chavez next door.
Obviously, staging a hostage rescue is something of a complicated ruse to distract from all the bad news coming out of Colombia -- but it has worked wonderfully. Uribe and the Colombian military and loving the good press, and the Washington Post has predictably used the entire affair to push for the passage of the FTA. Of course, the whole "rescue" part, with elaborate costumes and all, becomes much less incredible if it was actually part of a $20 million payoff to a group that Uribe and the U.S. constantly calls "terrorists."
All in all, that's a well spent $20 million, because Uribe would likely have spent more on PR consultants in Washington to try and brighten up his image. If it's true. Of course, if the U.S. press corps was that willing to believe the fairy tales coming out of the magic laptop that implicated Chavez in everything from trying to kill Uribe to having his hand in the Brad Pitt-Jennifer Aniston break-up, we'll give ourselves a little room to believe the conspiracies about whether or not this hostage rescue was in fact a rescue, and not just a ransom payment. That would be quite the devil.
