Sidestepping Diplomatic Protocol, One Sees the American Hand in Colombian Hostage Negotiation
Hostages in Colombia on Videos
Footage Seized From Three Suspected Guerrillas Gives Families 'Proof of Life'
By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, December 1, 2007; Page A08
CARACAS, Venezuela, Nov. 30 -- Captured videos on Friday gave the outside world the first look since 2003 at three Pentagon contractors held hostage in Colombia, showing them to be haggard but alive. French Colombian writer and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was also shown, looking thin and dispirited.
The videos, seized by the Colombian army from three suspected guerrillas in Bogota on Thursday night, brought relief to hostage families as far away as Connecticut and Paris.
. . . But the Colombian government on Friday also came under criticism related to the hostages. President Alvaro Uribe's decision last week to end Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's role as a mediator with the FARC touched off a bitter diplomatic dispute . . .
. . . Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba, who had been w…