Ingrid Betancourt

No prizes for guessing today's Lat-Am news. Ingrid Betancourt is free. The Franco-Colombian politician and presidential candidate held hostage by the FARC guerrilla for six years has been rescued! Along with her three US contractors were freed and 11 Colombian citizens.

The FARC have taken more than a few blows in the past months, the worst was probably the bombing the led to the death of second in command Raul Reyes. During the attack - which took place on Ecuadorean soil - the Colombian army captured a number of computers belonging to Reyes. Those now famous laptops have led to the arrest of key suppliers of the FARC as well as seriously embarrassing both president Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador.

With the rescue of Ms Betancourt the guerrilla have lost their most powerful bargaining tool. It's hard to see how they will recover from such a blow.

I wonder if the timing of the operation had anything to do with the visit of presidential candidate John McCain. It's certainly great news at a time when Colombia is in the eye of the US and looking to get the Free Trade Agreement ratified by Congress.