Latest events in Colombia feature today in the press review of Cécile de Kervasdoué on Radio France, which she entitles “When Sarkozy wants to make an immediate impression on the international scene”…

This headline today in the Guardian in Great Britain explains ; “in three weeks the new French President has succeeded in persuading Colombia to free guerrillas… has rallied various EU heads of state to speedy reforms of the European Union… and is making Darfur a diplomatic priority! … We understand this, says the British daily… Nicolas Sarkozy who arrives today at the G8 summit wants to make a difference and as quickly as possible… That is why he gives so much attention to problems for which a speedy resolution is possible.. He ignores the situation in the Middle East and Iran in favour of Colombia which can gain immediate accolades in France..in order to obtain freedom for the anti-corruption French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, he asked and obtained yesterday from the Colombian government freedom for 56 rebels in exchange for 60 hostages held by Farce…in that way he achieved success on the home front in France…but concludes the Guardian, it remains to be seen if this small victory will transfer to the international scene.

Yes it is a “minor French success regarding the Farc hostage situation” according to a headline from today’s Le Temps in Switzerland…

One of the Farc leaders Rodrigo Granda was freed at the request of President Sarkozy… in order to achieve a humanitarian solution between Bogota and Farc…something sought for years by Spain, France and Switzerland…

The freeing of Granda, explains Le Temps, was demanded as a “favour” by the French President in exchange for officially defending, at the G8 conference, the hardline approach taken by the Colombian government.. Except that nothing says this will allow the freeing of hostages…writes the Swiss daily… because Farc who have not reacted officially are giving few signs of encouragement…..after having branded those freed as deserters, the guerrilla kidnapped a police commander and repeated its demands; no freedom for hostages until government troops are withdrawn from a mountainous area of 200 square kms in the south west of the country…a move absolutely refused by the Colombian President.. so the Le Temps concludes.. For the moment nothing is achieved by crowing in France… the humanitarian agreement is still deadlocked!

As well Granda does not want to be used ..adds the Diario de Noticias in Portugal… thanking Nicolas Sarkozy for recognising the legitimacy of the Farc movement.. Granda says he was freed “against his will”… he refuses to leave Farc as is expected under the release terms of the 200 rebels…and above all he rejects any role as a Farc mediator..by strongly criticising president Uribe especially for his government’s involvement in corrupt dealings with drug traffickers.

And where it gets even more complicate, continues El Pais, is that neighbouring countries such as Paraguay promised to do everything it can to obtain Grandma’s arrest and extradition, who has been found guilty of the murder of the daughter of the former President of Paraguay … and the Spanish daily publishes today a photo of Granda..the international second-in-command of Farc, stating clearly that this 57 year old man has clearly got the blood of innocent people on his hands.

While in Colombia, editors are still confused.

It is as if crazy men have taken power…headlines El Tiempo… the peace process on which the government has embarked, is an incomprehensible mess… one day the President wants to bomb Farc.. next day he frees hundreds of rebels; one day he calls them bandits, the following day he lets them go to please the French President after he has just said he would make decisions about the rebels without taking into account international pressure… it is impossible to understand.

But if on the other hand, this is President Uribe being clever and skilful….says the El Colombiano newspaper… firstly because it puts the issue of the humanitarian agreement firmly in the hands of the rebels who must now reply to this apparently gesture of goodwill so as not to lose its legitimacy… and ther paper continues… at the same time this move diverts media attention from a hugely embarrassing situation for the Colombian President , that is, his involvement and that of his ministers in shady deals with extreme right wing paramilitaries.. suddenly current affairs change overnight in Colombia, the issue of paramilitaries and corruption is relegated to the back pages of the newspapers and people talk about peace, the humanitarian agreement and the freeing of prisoners.. In so doing forgetting, at least internationally, the serious afflictions suffered by democracy in Colombia...states El Colombiano… to make us forget that members of his government took part in or collaborated with death squads responsible for terrible atrocities… squads whose members are, according to the article, in prison and await the same chance to be freed like the Farc rebels ,concludes the paper… by doing this the government that operates in the short term manages perhaps to extricate itself of an embarrassing situation…but it is certain it is setting the seed for serious problems in the future.

And what about the hostages? The Press also wonders…and well, we should know this in a few hours…writes El Tiempo… perhaps Uribe’s move will turn out to be fine because not only will the government have satisfied France, it may also have freed hundreds of people… If this ends well then never mind the mysterious chaos in which we live… never mind the lack of justice and truth…history will be eternally grateful to our President and that of France…

Yes, but if the opposite happens?…if hostages are not freed and if Farc stick to their positions? El Tiempo asks again…it will be a catastrophe and the government will have to admit its defeat, in the end it will have to put the problem of the native rebels into surer and more expert hands…that of the UN for example or of another international organisation… but above all, concludes the article, certainly not into the hands of Mr Sarcozy!