Colombia hostage rescue setback for Venezuela Chavez

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for months promised to seek the release of Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt but her liberation in a surprise rescue has turned out to be a setback for the leftist leader. Just hours after Betancourt was freed by Colombian troops, the one-time presidential candidate urged Chavez not to meddle in Colombian affairs and strongly backed Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a pro-Washington ideological adversary of the leftist Chavez. Wednesday's bold rescue operation likely will boost political support for Uribe's hard-line stance against the FARC rebels and decrease backing for Chavez's position that only negotiation can end Colombia's four-decade-old civil war. 'Chavez has been accusing Uribe of being a war-monger but when all of a sudden Uribe achieves this rescue without a single shot fired, Chavez is being run over by the facts,' said Eduardo Gamarra, director at Newlink Research, a Miami-based polling firm that works in Latin America.