COLOMBIA:COLOMBIAN MILITARY commanders beamed with pride as they recounted the details of the rescue of 15 hostages from the steaming jungles of southern Colombia on Wednesday in a dramatic military rescue operation worthy of a Hollywood script.
A daring strike in remote territory led to the freedom of Ingrid Betancourt, a Colombian-French politician, the woman who has become a cause célèbre in Europe, and a worldwide symbol of suffering and courage over the last six years. Three American military contractors and 11 Colombian soldiers and police officers were also rescued, some of whom had been in captivity for more then 10 years.
Two military helicopters painted white and without markings swooped down into a clearing in the south-central department of Guaviare in the early afternoon to begin the rescue operation. The Farc squad that controlled the group of hostages had been infiltrated by Colombian intelligence and its leader, a guerrilla known as Cesar, was tricked into believing a humanitarian mission was to take the hostages to a different location, possibly to a meeting with the insurgent group's leader, Alfónso Cano, or its military commander, known as Mono Jojoy.
After the hostages had been freed Ms Betancourt spoke of her frustration and anger at seeing the helicopter crew dressed as guerrillas, some wearing T-shirts with the image of Che Guevara. She said she and the other hostages felt humiliated as they were bound and shoved on to the waiting helicopter. Speaking at Bogotá military airport after an emotional reunion with her mother and husband, she said: "I wondered if they were going to put us as clowns in another circus . . . I did not want to lend myself to that."
Yesterday Ms Betancourt's son and daughter, Lorenzo and Mélanie, arrived in Bogotá from Paris with French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner. With her arms tight around her children she said: "What I'm feeling now is something very close to paradise.
"These are my babies, my pride, my reason for living, my light, my moon, my stars, she said. "Forgive me for saying it, but I think they are very good looking." Ms Betancourt said her captivity in secret camps, sometimes chained by the neck and desperate for medicine to relieve jungle illnesses, had driven her to think of suicide.
Colombian minister of defence Juan Manuel Santos said on Wednesday that the operation was all over in 22 minutes. Moments after take-off, the two Farc commanders were "neutralised". Having been persuaded to hand over their weapons, they were overpowered by the special forces commandos, according to the leader of the rescue operation. He then told the hostages: "We are the national army, and you are all free." Ms Betancourt said the helicopter almost fell from the sky as the group jumped up and down and embraced each other. The group was then flown to a nearby airforce base, and from there to the military airport at Bogotá.
The main Colombian newspapers devoted more than half their Thursday editions to the rescue, described by Ms Betancourt as "perfect . . . impeccable". In a headline, the liberal daily El Espectador, called the jungle raid, "Colombia's Entebbe".
The operation was dubbed Operation Jaque, and was carried out by commandos from the Colombian armed forces and military intelligence. Jaque is a Spanish chess term meaning "check".
Mr Santos said the rescue "was one hundred per cent Colombian". Some observers in Bogotá, however, are asking if perhaps there was US involvement. The American ambassador in Colombia, William Brownfield, told one news agency that there had been "close co-operation" between both governments. Colombia's conservative president Álvaro Uribe is the US administration's closest ally in a region which has seen a leftward tilt in recent years.
The operation is a devastating blow to the Farc which has been fighting a war against the Colombian state for more than four decades. It has suffered several blows recently: in March its number two commander was killed when the Colombian airforce carried out a bombing raid on his camp inside Ecuadorian territory. A week later another member of the Farc's seven-man secretariat was killed by his bodyguard, who then turned himself in to the authorities. Also in March, the group's legendary leader, Manual Marulanda, known as 'Sureshot', died of natural causes.