Chavez leaves Paris empty-handed

When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced in late August that he would try to broker the release of hostages held by Colombian rebels, expectations rose sky-high. With a green light from Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Chavez met in Caracas this month with two emissaries from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which holds most of Colombia's estimated 3,000 kidnap hostages.

Then news of Chavez's arrival this week in France for talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy spurred speculation that Chavez would announce a bombshell: the freeing, perhaps, of hostage and French citizen Ingrid Betancourt, or at least videos showing a sign of life. Sarkozy, after all, had persuaded  Uribe to release FARC commander Rodrigo Granda from jail in June, the assumption being that Sarkozy had some direct connection to the FARC and a promise of a quid pro quo. But Chavez left Paris without even a video to prove that Ingrid and other political hostages, including three U.S. contractors, were alive.

Five months after Sarkozy lobbied for Granda's release, he has produced no reciprocal gesture from the FARC. Sarkozy on Tuesday told reporters that a videotaped sign of life was "indispensable" in verifying the sincerity of the FARC.

Sensing a fiasco in the making and possibly the FARC's desire to draw the process out for maximum publicity leverage, Uribe on Tuesday set an end-of-the-year limit on any more negotiations Chavez might hold with the rebels, at least with his consent. Responding to Chavez's statement that Uribe approved of and might even attend a meeting in the Colombian jungle of Chavez and FARC leaders, Uribe said he might approve such a meeting only if the FARC released hostages beforehand.

Posted by Chris Kraul in Bogotá