Sad pawn sent to freezer

摘要

The decision in August by Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's president, to invite his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, to help broker the release of 45 hostages held by farc guerrillas for the past five years always looked like a misjudgement. It took only three months for Mr Uribe to have second thoughts. But when he told Mr Chavez that he was cancelling his mediation effort, it unleashed volleys of invective between the two leaders.