Der Spiegel: France a loser

That's the verdict in today's Betancourt article:

There's a second loser in this drama: Nicolas Sarkozy. The French appeared to have been just as surprised as Chavez to hear about Betancourt's release on Wednesday. Paris had only just managed to establish fresh contact with the new FARC leader Alfonso Cano. Sarkozy had hoped that the French could score a coup by negotiating Betancourt's release and flying her directly to Paris. Colombian government officials had spoken reproachingly about what they often deemed to be politically motivated attempts at intervention on the part of the French.

Betancourt will no doubt soon travel to her second home in France. But she won't be landing in Paris as a broken and needy ex-hostage. Instead she will arrive as a self-confident politician. And who knows? At some point she may even visit as the Colombian president.