Colombia Rescues Ingrid Betancourt, Americans From FARC

***UPDATED 9:21pm ET -- July 2, 2008***

Colombia - Colombian spies tricked leftist rebels into handing over kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors Wednesday in a daring helicopter rescue so successful that not a single shot was fired.

Betancourt, who was seized on the campaign trail six long years ago, appeared thin but healthy as she strode down the stairs of a military plane and held her mother in a long embrace. She said she still aspires to the presidency.

"God, this is a miracle," Betancourt said. "Such a perfect operation is unprecedented."

Eleven Colombian police and soldiers were also freed in the rescue, 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 flying directly to the United States to reunite with their families, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said. They had been the longest-held American hostages in the world.

***EARLIER***

Colombia - Colombia said its military rescued former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three U.S. military contractors and 11 other hostages from leftist rebels on Wednesday.

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Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos says no one was hurt in the operation in eastern Colombia.

He said army commandos captured rebels manning a security ring around the hostages and got them to persuade their comrades to turn over the captives, without any loss of life.

Santos says the other 11 hostages freed were Colombian soldiers and police.

Betancourt, the Americans Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell, and the other hostages were taken to a military base.

In Paris, Betancourt's son Lorenzo Delloye-Betancourt called her release after six years of captivity, "if true, the most beautiful news of my life."

There was no answer at the homes of American families of the three U.S. hostages.

Read more here.

Scroll down for photos of Betancourt before and after she was taken hostage.

BEFORE AFTER

Comments

[3rdCitizen]

Boy, FARC is really evil! With their extremist mindset, they claim that being in a state of war gives them the right to abduct anyone they deem a legitimate target, transport them to far off places of detention, deny them basic human rights, and subject them to harsh treatment for as long as they choose. I wouldn't even put things like sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, beatings & water-boarding past those devils!

[jaschrod]

I think your comment went over a lot of heads.

[avalanch112]

how so? cause i understood it as a commentary on the united states. seemed pretty obvious to me.

[OncevotedRepub]

What I'd like to know is, exactly what sort of "government contractors" these guys were...Who were they working for and what were they doing in Colombia those many years ago?

[awcbuddy8]

Well you can go f**k yourself.

[PandeiroMan]

Please elaborate . Note, I didnt say I disagreed with your statement, I would just like a little clarification.

[MaracaKabob]

How bad you want to know? Buy a ticket to Columbia and trek off into jungle to have meeting with the FARC, I'm sure they will set you up with a tent and bucket while they spend the next five years explaining the story to you.
I'm sure they will confirm what you already expect.

[andresfusion]

Congratulations! to the Colombia military forces and to President Uribe.
What a great day for Colombia, there seem to be a lot of misinformed people in this forum, I have family in Colombia and was recently there, the country has undergone a transformation tourism has exploded, commerce has increase exponentially and security is no longer an issue for the most part. The current government in Colombia deserves a lot credit, is no coincidence President Uribe has 80% approval ratings and this will probably get him to 90%.

VIVA COLOMBIA

[gage]

VIVA! VIVA COLOMBIA!

[GeoLee]

Yes 15 high priority prisoners were released in this ruse that was created to get them out, but now that it worked this time am I the only person to worry about what will happen next to the nearly 700 prisoners now in their captivity? Obviously this is a one time success that cannot be duplicated. I am happy for those who are home or on their way, but a lot of the other ones and the infiltrators are going to be killed in the very near future, I suspect. What company did the Americans work for ? Blackwater, perhaps?

[mimsnpips]

The sad truth of this matter is our leaders will play with human lives to benefit their own causes. This is a complete setup for McSame and the msm is all over how he was "briefed" on the "mission" (afterward). Oh golly Mac just happened to be down there. And CNN is crooning about the AZ Senators' diplomatic and foreign policy experience. Gotta go the all paint drying channel is running a special tonight.

[olgraydawg]

Schools Of America must be really proud of this bullshot. Not a single shot huh? Damn near seems orchestrated....

[playera]

Caracol, a main news program this evening has spent at least an hour on the freeing of the hostages and hasn't mentioned McCain. He had nothing to do with this. He is clueless about Colombia. He might have been told an operation was in the works, but he was told to keep his fat mouth shut.

He was asked on a morning show today about the importance of the free trade agreement. His insulting answer, insulting to Colombians, was a long blather about the drug trade and how important it is to stop the trafficking of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico. The lady host of the show asked again, yes, but what do you have to say about free trade. He said, let me repeat what I said, its about drugs????? Does he have any sense at all????

[FilthyPerson]

Whoa baby.
You guys must be royally pis-sed off ... not to mention how pis-sed off to know how cranky this is making Hugo feel.

[MsLiz]

What an ignorant comment.

[GeoLee]

The U.S. ambassador (Brownfield) being interviewed right now on Larry King LIve said that they US knew two weeks ago this was going to happen and what the plan was and that the US followed it very closly for the past two weeks and that is being confirmed by the Colombia minister of defense Santos...did McCain know he was going tp Colombia two weeks ago? You figure that out for yourself.

[Indubio]

Did I miss something in this article? What does McCain have to do with the story beyond the fact that he was in Columbia embarassing himself as usual?

[MsLiz]

The State Department may have leaked information to McCain.

[mlaiuppa]

And what does McCain want us to do for Columbia? Reward them for stealing six years of these people's lives? Gee....I don't think so.

[gage]

The Colombian government rescued the people from FARC, which is a Hugo Chavez-backed, Communist group.

[mlaiuppa]

And it took them SIX YEARS?

And how coincidental they just happen to succeed when John McCain is there...and trying to drum up support for NAFTA and free trade with Columbia.

I suppose the oil companies who are now going to be drilling in Iraq again is just a coincidence of the Iraqi War too.

You think because FARC is a communist group backed by Hugo Chavez that the Columbian Government is what? Democratic? Humane? COMPETANT?

SIX YEARS!!!

[Gasparilla]

Colombia is a country. Columbia is a university.

[andvoodoo2]

Thank God! Now, bring her captors to justice and get the rest of the hostages still held by FARC freed!

[nastyvirus]

The Colombian government won't like that. The need FARC as much as Bush needs Al Qaeda.

[PaceSetter]

So glad John Sydney McSame III "just happened" to be visiting Columbia today. I guess the guerillas just needed a bit of good ol' McAngermanagementproblem's persuasion to get the ball rolling:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_cochran;_ylt=AqZ8gr5SFIEqsOVELnOy2wCyFz4D

John McCain denied a Republican colleague's claim that he roughed up an associate of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on a diplomatic mission in 1987.

"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerrilla group here at this end of the table and I don't know what attracted my attention," Cochran said in an interview with The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. "But I saw some kind of quick movement at the bottom of the table and I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and had snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever ...

"I don't know what he was telling him but I thought, 'Good grief, everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission.' I don't know what had happened to provoke John, but he obviously got mad at the guy ... and he just reached over there and snatched ... him."

[majormoderate]

I dont think its a coincidence AT ALL. The first thing i thought when i heard the news is.. wait a second, isn't mccain over there now? and now we're hearing the US helped with intelligence... why didn't they do this a week ago? the minister of colombian defense says on larry king they "briefed" john mccain last night before they did this.

i dont know... maybe im wrong. but it just sounds a little too coincidental that mccain was there while this happened- the guy who's all about free trade.

[DrFitz]

Totally. All it has to accomplish is the story that McCain is getting briefed on a military operation by the head of state to get a little boost out of this.

Let's hope someone gets the cajones to break the story of McCain getting major money from the former CEO of a company (Chiquita) who's been caught funding FARC, as well as right-wing paramilitary groups in Columbia.

[Big0725]

Damn, someone get that poor lady a protein drink and a sandwich. I had to spend a week in the Venezuelan jungles, not far away from Columbia, and I thought I was going to lose my mind, not to mention about 40 lbs. from the little intestinal rider I picked up.

[mergina]

This is just soooooo cool. Love to see something go so right when everything else around us seems to be going so wrong.