Colombia’s dramatic hostage rescue has vindicated President Alvaro Uribe’s hardline security strategy and inflicted another devastating blow on the Farc, the isolated and increasingly fragmented leftwing guerrilla group.

By freeing Ingrid Betancourt, a charismatic former presidential candidate, and 14 other high profile long-term hostages without firing a shot, Mr Uribe has also confounded international critics, such as Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, who had been pressing him to negotiate a prisoner exchange.