Colombian rebels tricked into freeing hostage Ingrid Betancourt
Ingrid Betancourt, who has been held hostage by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels for six years, has been freed in a cunning military operation in the Colombian jungle.Colombian security forces rescued the French-Colombian politician, 11 Colombian police and three US intelligence operatives in an operation in the eastern jungle province of Guaviare which saw the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) lose their negotiating trump cards.
The guerrillas were holding almost 60 political hostages, whom they want to exchange for hundreds of rebels in prison.
General Freddy Padilla, Colombia's armed forces commander, said it was high-level military intelligence that assured the safe rescue of the hostages.
Colombian jungle.
Colombian security forces rescued the French-Colombian politician, 11 Colombian police and three US intelligence operatives in an operation in the eastern jungle province of Guaviare which saw the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) lose their negotiating trump cards.
The guerrillas were holding almost 60 political hostages, whom they want to exchange for hundreds of rebels in prison.
General Freddy Padilla, Colombia's armed forces commander, said it was high-level military intelligence that assured the safe rescue of the hostages.
"We have infiltrated the Secretariat (Farc's ruling seven-man body) and military intelligence gave us the location of the hostages," said Gen Padilla as he pointed on a map to the remote area of Tomachipan in Guaviare, where the hostages were found.
It emerged that commandoes had managed to trick the rebels into handing over the hostages.
A government agent managed to infiltrate the rebel group, apparently earning their trust, paving the way for the rescue.
Undercover Colombian commandoes flew to the jungle camp in a civilian helicopter, claiming to be from a fictitious non-government organisation.
They claimed they had orders to fly the hostages by helicopter to a camp to meet with rebel leader Alfonso Cano.
"The helicopters, which in reality were from the army, picked up the hostages in Guaviare and flew them to freedom," Juan Manuel Santos, the defence minister, said.
Two guerrillas were captured and the hostages were flown to a military base.
"This was an unprecedented operation," he said. "It will go down in history for its audaciousness and effectiveness."
“The operation was absolutely impeccable," Ms Betancourt told Colombian radio just hours after she was freed, as she described the ruse played by Colombian soldiers on the FARC rebels.
"They spoke and dressed like the guerrillas," she said, adding the operation began at dawn, when the hostages were told they were being transferred.
Some of the elite Colombian soldiers who took part in the operation had disguised themselves as rebels, even wearing T-shirts bearing the picture of legendary reolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, she said.
The hostages only realised that they were being rescued when they were in the air and one of the soldiers pretending to be a guerrilla shouted out: "We are the Army of Colombia, you are free."
The rescue is a political and military coup for the Oxford-educated President Alvaro Uribe.
Backed by Washington he has made the defeat of the Farc, who killed his father, the cornerstone of his government. He had been under pressure from France, where President Sarkozy made Ms Betancourt's release a foreign policy priority, and the Farc's closest international friend, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, to sit down and negotiate with the rebel group.
The Colombian senator and presidential candidate was a vociferous critic of Farc when she was kidnapped near Florencia, 370 miles south of Bogota, in February 2002. The rebels' prize hostage, Ms Betancourt spent six years being moved between jungle camps, making the task of rescuing her difficult.
The rescue is a disaster for once mighty Farc. In March the legendary founder and leader of the guerrilla army, Manuel Marulanda died and two other members of Farc's Secretariat were killed.
So far this year almost 600 Farc rebels have been killed in military operations and another 1000 have deserted. Intelligence sources estimated that Farc now number less than 9000 fighters, way down from its 2002 peak of 16,000.
Sources within the defence ministry said that the operation was carried out with the blessing of Washington, keen to see its three citizens, Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Homes, rescued without injury.
The three men were part of a five-man crew of a spy plane that was taking pictures of drugs crops and guerrilla camps in February 2003.
The plane crash-landed in rebel territory and within minutes the Farc were on the scene. The two other crew members, a Colombian and another American, were killed by the Farc as they were too injured for the march into captivity.
The Colombian government will use this victory to show that the Farc is on its last legs and that after 44 years of fighting one of the world's most powerful and richest insurgencies, is beaten. Not everyone agrees.
"This war is not over by a long chalk," said a Western diplomatic source. "The Farc are still flush with drugs money and have a hard core of dedicated and experience fighters. A leaner meaner Farc of just 5000 fighters could still destabilise this country."
Mr Santos last night vowed to keep fighting Farc.
"We will continue working for the liberation of the remaining hostages," he said. "We are making an appeal to the leaders of the Farc not to kill them, to liberate the remaining hostages and to not sacrifice their own men."
Ms Betancourt's family had urged Colombian authorities not to attempt to free her by force, for fear of putting her life in danger, despite her deteriorating health.
There had been grave fears for Ms Betancourt's health. She was believed to have been suffering from serious liver problems which could not be treated in the jungle camps.
Four hostages who were released in February after being imprisoned with Ms Betancourt, warned that her health was fading fast, saying they feared for her life.
In a video released this year as proof she was still alive, she appeared particularly frail and had lost a lot of weight. She was also allowed to release a letter to her family, in which she said her strength had diminished, her appetite was gone, and her hair had started falling out. Her son and daughter sent messages of support to her via Colombian radio, which she is believed to have heard, but been unable to respond to.
"I am filled with happiness," Ms Betancourt's sister, Astrid, told Colombian radio. "These have been long years of waiting."
France sent a mission to Colombia in April in an attempt to provide Ms Betancourt with medical treatment, but negotiations with rebels broke down.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy thanked his Colombian counterpart and called on the rebels to end their "absurd" struggle.
He said Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister and Ms Betancourt's family would leave soon to fly to Colombia to meet the freed hostage.
"It was a successful military operation," Mr Sarkozy said, standing next to two of Betancourt's children and her sister Astrid, adding that he wanted to say to "the Farc rebels that they stop this absurd and medieval combat".
