This is not to say that Chavez was responsible for the release by FARC of Northrop Grumman contractors and other high-profile hostages in Colombia but certainly he is part of the story.
The official U.S. story is reading as if in the development stage. In this scenario, the “pretty elaborate” “rescue operation” – the result of years or months of planning depending on who’s doing the telling – has Colombian commandos walking into a FARC stronghold and tricking the rebels into turning over the hostages by wearing Che Guevara t-shirts.
NPR: Juan Forero discusses the latest blow to FARC rebels.
Update 04.07.2008
Rebels paid to free hostages – report
From correspondents in Paris | The Australian
The 15 hostages released Wednesday by the Colombian army “were in reality ransomed for a high price, and the whole operation afterwards was a set-up,” the radio’s French-language channel said.
Saying the US, which had three of its citizens among those freed, was behind the deal, it put the price of the ransom at some 20 million dollars.
[…]
The operation enhanced Mr Uribe’s prestige as he seeks a third term in office, and enabled him to stick to his line of no talks with the rebels without the hostages being freed, the radio noted.
Brilliant or a sham? Questions asked over Ingrid Betancourt rescue
Thomas Catan and Charles Bremner, Times Online, 4 July 2008
Dominique Moisi, one of France’s leading foreign policy experts, said that it was “probable” that the Farc had been paid money as part of the “infiltration” of their command. “They were bought in order to turn them around, like Mafia chiefs,” he said on French state television, as Ms Betancourt’s plane was taxiing up to the terminal in Paris.