The French media has continued to express as sigh of "relief" following the release of Franco-Columbian hostage Ingrid Betancourt while at the same time paying a glowing tribute to the efforts of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to secure the safe release of those hostages.
On Thursday, in their headlines, all newspapers welcomed the successful, near text book operation by the Colombian army, which led to the release of Betancourt, together with 14 other hostages, including three Americans, but also described the happy ending as a personal success for President Uribe.
"The Colombian President Uribe had chosen to pursue a relentless battle against the guerrillas... This struggle has been very successful for the president who enjoys massive support among the Colombians," Francois Sergeant wrote in the Liberation daily.
"However," according to the Liberation editor, "the pressure brought to bear by President Sarkozy has certainly convinced the Colombian president to do everything possible to free Ingrid."
"The personal and obstinate commitment of Nicolas Sarkozy and the French diplomacy... has without a doubt contributed to this happy outcome," Etienne Mougeotte of the business daily Le Figaro said while also adding that "a strong leadership by the Colombian head of state has paid off."
This is echoed in the widely-read Le Journal de la Haute-Marne:” This release is undoubtedly a victory for the Colombian government which has chosen to play the hard way with the guerillas," said Patrice Chabanet, while stressing that "France has continually maintained pressure, without which the fate of Ingrid Betancourt would have fallen into oblivion long ago."
"The firmness and determination demonstrated by President Alvaro Uribe, however widely criticized in its strategy of suffocating the FARC rebels, has finally paid off," said Remi Godeau of L'Est Republican.
Writing in the France's Le Republicain daily, Philippe Waucampt however expressed an opinion that was more settled: "The liberation of Ingrid Betancourt is a victory that should be exclusively attributed to the undying efforts of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe."
This position is shared by L'Alsace daily, whose editorialist Patrick Fluckiger wrote: "The efforts of the Colombian army have thus prevailed over the efforts of Nicolas Sarkozy, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and many others."
Welcoming the strategy of President Uribe "as having won convincingly over those put forward by others," Jean-Claude Kieferof the Alsace daily nevertheless sought to pay tribute to what he described as "the activism" of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The elitist Hubert Coudurier Telegram appeared to share the same opinion when, in its editorial, said that "In the end, the French diplomacy should still be proud of this achievement for which it has spared no efforts and left no stone unturned."
"The liberation of Ingrid Betancourt allows us to breathe a huge sigh of relief," said Jacques Camus writing in La Republique du Centre.
However, there are many newspapers that showed much more sympathy with the former hostage. In his editorial Gerard Noel of the daily La Liberte de l'Est was quoted as saying that "it was time for Ingrid to forget the terrible suffering and start rebuilding her shattered life."
"There exists, just like that, some miraculous days in the history of the world," wrote France's Le Monde daily, recalling the many years that the French people and their leadership agonized over the fate of Betancourt.
In the respected Paris-Normandie, Michel Lepinay also saw some sort of new "miracle which is even difficult to believe," but at the same time paid a glowing tribute to "the woman of Colombian politics, who remained the master of her destiny until the very end."
Source: Xinhua
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