Colombia tricks rebels into freeing hostages
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - July 2, 2008 Betancourt, who was seized on the campaign trail six long years
ago, appeared thin but surprisingly healthy as she strode down the
stairs of a military plane and held her mother in a long embrace.
"God, this is a miracle," Betancourt said. "Such a perfect
operation is unprecedented."
Eleven Colombian police and soldiers were also freed in the most
serious blow ever dealt to the 44-year-old Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, which considered the four hostages their most
valuable bargaining chips. The FARC is already reeling from the
deaths of key commanders and the loss of much of the territory it
once held.
The Americans - Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell
- were flown directly to the United States to reunite with their
families and undergo tests and treatment at Brooke Army Medical
Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Nowhere in the world have American hostages currently in
captivity been held longer, according to the U.S. Embassy in
Bogota.
Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said military intelligence
agents infiltrated the guerrilla ranks and led the local commander
in charge of the hostages, alias Cesar, to believe they were going
to take them to Alfonso Cano, the guerrillas' supreme leader.
The hostages, who had been divided in three groups, were taken
to a rendezvous where two disguised MI-17 helicopters piloted by
Colombian military agents were waiting, one on the ground and
another hovering above. Betancourt said her hands and feet were
bound, which she called "humiliating."
At first she thought the pilots - a crew of four with nine
"assistants" dressed in white - were from a relief organization.
Then she saw their Che Guevara shirts and assumed they were rebels.
Only when they were airborne did she notice that Cesar, who had
treated her so cruelly for so many years, was naked and blindfolded
on the floor.
"The chief of the operation said, `We're the national army.
You're free,"' she said. "The helicopter almost fell from the sky
because we were jumping up and down, yelling, crying, hugging one
another. We couldn't believe it."
The operation, Santos said, "will go into history for its
audacity and effectiveness."
"We wanted to have it happen as it did today," added armed
forces chief Gen. Freddy Padilla. "Without a single shot. Without
anyone wounded. Absolutely safe and sound, without a scratch."
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe later led a celebratory news
conference where he said his government isn't interested in
"spilling blood" and urged the rebels to take a "path to
peace."
Although officials said everyone directly involved in the rescue
were Colombians, U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said there was
"close cooperation" from the Americans that included "exchange
of intelligence" as well as "exchange of equipment, training
advice and experiences of other operations. I will not enter into
details."
Santos said Cesar and another rebel who boarded the chopper with
the hostages would face justice, while 58 others were allowed to
escape into the jungle "in hopes that they will free the rest of
the hostages," believed to number about 700.
"If I had given the order to fire on them they would almost
certainly all have been killed," Padilla said.
Another 39 helicopters were prepared to encircle the rebels and
hostages if the rescue failed, Santos said.
Betancourt, 46, was abducted in February 2002. The Americans
were captured a year later when their drug surveillance plane went
down in rebel-held jungle.
Joining military brass on the airport tarmac, the freed
Colombian hostages walked up to a microphone one by one, identified
themselves by name and rank, and thanked their rescuers. Some had
been held for a dozen years, captured when rebels overran military
outposts.
Last to speak was the French-Colombian Betancourt, who wore
military fatigues and a floppy camouflage hat as she hugged her
mother, Yolanda Pulecio, and her husband, Juan Carlos LeCompte. She
removed her hat to reveal intricately braided dark hair, with
plaits framing her face and a white flower.
Breaking into tears, Betancourt appealed to the FARC to release
the remaining hostages and make peace.
She thanked Uribe, against whom she was running when she was
kidnapped, and said he "has been a very good president."
However, she said, "I continue to aspire to serve Colombia as
president."
For now, she added, "I'm just one more soldier."
In Paris, her son Lorenzo Delloye-Betancourt called her release
"the most beautiful news of my life." He and other relatives were
flying to Colombia to join her.
The Americans appeared healthy in a video shown on Colombian
television, though Brownfield, who met with them at a military
base, said two of the three were suffering from the jungle malady
leishmaniasis and "looking forward to modern medical treatment."
Gonsalves' father George was mowing the yard of his Hebron,
Connecticut, home when an excited neighbor relayed the news he had
seen on television: "I didn't know how to stop my lawnmower. I was
shocked. I couldn't believe it."
"We're still teary-eyed and do not quite have our wits about
us," said Stansell's stepmother Lynne in Miami.
And Howes' niece in Massachusetts, Amanda Howes, says the rescue
"redefines the word miracle."
Santos renewed the government's offer to negotiate with the
reeling rebel movement, who many believe is nearing the end of its
four-decade fight. Battlefield losses and widespread desertions
have cut rebel numbers in half to about 9,000 as the United States
has poured billions of dollars in military aid into Colombia.
In March, historic leader Manuel Marulanda died of a reported
heart attack, and two other top commanders were killed. The rest
are hunkered down in remote jungle and mountain hideouts, unable to
communicate effectively, their income from ransom kidnappings and
the cocaine trade depleted by intense military operations.
Santos said Colombia had infiltrated the rebels' seven-man
ruling secretariat, but did not elaborate. Padilla said FARC
turncoats also helped and would be rewarded with "their liberty."
Santos also said the government is "offering a dignified
peace" to rebels who want to negotiate seriously.
U.S. President George W. Bush called his close ally Uribe to
congratulate him, as did French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
U.S. presidential candidate John McCain said Uribe had told him
in advance of the rescue plans while he was campaigning in
Colombia. "It's a very high-risk operation," he said. "I
congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of
Colombia." His rival, Barack Obama, issued a statement
congratulating Uribe as well.
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Associated Press writers Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Beth Fouhy
with the McCain campaign and Stephen Singer in Hebron, Connecticut
contributed to this report.