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Paris is apparently prepared to hand over Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as “Carlos”, to the authorities in Venezuela, where he was born 60 years ago. The Czech daily Lidové Noviny has this on information from Mnislav Zelený-Atapana, ex-Czech ambassador to Colombia, who says the quid pro quo is that Caracas buy a nuclear power plant from France, where “the Jackal” has been serving a life sentence for terrorism since 1994. The recently signed prisoner exchange treaty between the two nations should facilitate the transfer. According to Mnislav Zelený-Atapana, French president Nicolas Sarkozy had pledged to hand Carlos over to his Venezuelan opposite number Hugo Chávez in return for the latter’s efforts to get the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) to release its Franco-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt. But Betancourt was eventually freed by the Colombian army in 2008, so another bargaining counter had to be found for Carlos. And what better return for the terrorist than the radiant jewel of French high tech?
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