Posted on 07/02/2008 1:52:48 PM PDT by marron
14:20 | The Colombian Minister of Defense Juan Manuel Santos reported that the army had rescued 15 hostages, among them the former presidential candidate and three US citizens, during a military operation called "Operation Check".
Bogotá (EFE) .- The Colombian army rescued safe and sound ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three US citizens, and eleven soldiers held hostage by FARC in Guaviare department (south), announced today Minister of Defense Juan Manuel Santos.
The minister said in a press conference that the French-Colombian former presidential candidate, held captive since February of 2002, and US citizens Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves, kidnapped in 2003, were liberated from a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) camp.
He added that the freed hostages were traveling at that moment by helicopter to San José del Guaviare, the regional capital.
"This operation was called "Check", it has no precedents and shows very well the quality and professionalism of the Colombian military forces", said Santos.
"My most sincere congratulations to our men in Army Intelligence", he added and he congratulated Generals Freddy Padilla, commander of the Armed Forces, and Mario Montoya, commander of the army.
"This country and its loved ones can not begin to thank you for such a rescue operation", which took more than a year to carry out, he said.
Betancourt, the three US contractors and the eleven soldiers will be brought later to Tolemaida air base, in Tolima department, less than 190 kilometers from Bogota.
I hope they don’t show “Romancing the Stone” on the flight home.
Thanks so much for the translation. Wonderful news!
Ingrid Betancourt was a minor presidential candidate in Colombia when she was abducted in 2002. For years, nobody was quite sure she was even alive. But in April of 2007, a Colombian police sergeant escaped and shared details of her days in captivity. Above, a photo released last October.
She always struck me as essentially decent, and idealistic. She made a lot of enemies, but in a good way, the right kinds of enemies.
Still, I’m glad Uribe waited to get her out, doing it the right way. He didn’t trade for her, he liberated her.
Good to hear that our boys are coming home.
I was surprised how quickly Wiki got the rescue into her article.
There is no way Britannica can match that.
I notice one thing. I’ve been saying for years that she was being held in Venezuelan territory. That apparently wasn’t the case, so I... was...
wrong.
I bet Hugo cussed up a storm when he heard...
Good man for owning up to it.
Hey, I thought she was dead. Glad to see I was wrong, too.
I wouldn’t wanna be either of them, right now.
Good find! Thanks! Man, she looks bad in that picture. I hope she can recover.
http://www.eluniversal.com/2008/07/02/chcol_ava_rescatan-a-ingrid-be_02A1750241.shtml
“They were rescued in an operation in which they managed to infiltrate a FARC group, the same group that had kept a numerous group of hostages in their power. By various means they also managed to infiltrate the Secretariat. As the hostages were divided in three groups, it was arranged that they be brought to a single location and then they were transferred to the south of the country where they would be placed, supposedly, under the orders of Alfonso Cano”, explained Santos.
The Colombian minister reported that it was arranged that the hostages be collected at a predetermined spot by helicopter of a fictitious organization, and that (alias)Cesar and another member of his command staff would travel personally with the hostages to hand them over to Alfonso Cano.
He said that the helicopter, which was in reality from the army and crewed by members of intelligence, recovered the hostages in the area of Guaviare department and are being flown to San José del Guaviare where they will board a plane that will bring them to Tolemaida, Tolima department, some 190 kilometers from Bogotá.
“Alias Cesar and the other member of his group were neutralized in the helicopter and will be handed over to the judicial authorities for trial for their crimes. As for the members of the group that accompanied Cesar in the hand-over operation, some 15 more or less, as well as the rest who were found some kilometers away, we decided not to attack them and we granted them their lives so that FARC might reciprocate freeing the rest of the hostages”, he said.
Well Hugo was smart enough to know he would have had his ass handed to him last time he tried to bully Columbia by putting his peasant troops on the border
"My name is Mario Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die." :)
The Farc is a leftist terrorist group. Let’s see if the media report that.
Wow. Great news.
Hugo Montoya!
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