Long Held American Hostages Rescued from FARC During McCain Visit to Columbia
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 08:44PM Finally! Three U.S. military contractors held hostage by the communist terror group FARC in Colombia were rescued without a single shot being fired after 5 years of captivity as rebels were tricked into the release. This Colombian military rescue operation coincided with Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s visit to Colombia to discuss, among other things, the American hostages and FARC.
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia freed Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors from leftist guerrillas on Wednesday after military spies tricked rebels into giving them up without a single injury, the defense minister said.
The rescue is 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.
Betancourt, 46, was abducted in February 2002 as she was running for president. France in particular has made her captivity a national cause, as she holds dual French and Colombian citizenship.
The Americans — Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell who worked for a Northrup Grumman Corp. subsidiary as Pentagon contractors, were captured a year after Betancourt when their drug surveillance plane went down in rebel-held jungle. They were the longest-held American hostages in the world.
Eleven Colombian soldiers and police also were freed as their guerrilla captors gave up without a fight, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said.
Betancourt said the military operation was “absolutely impeccable” and took her completely by surprise.
Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said the operation unprecedented and said it “will go into history for its audacity and effectiveness.”
The rescue came as U.S. presidential candidate John McCain was visiting Colombia. When news of its success reached McCain on his campaign plane, he said he and two other U.S. senators traveling with him — Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham — had been told about it in advance by Uribe.
The government says the FARC still holds about 700 hostages.
Amazing, and it’s about time.
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Reader Comments (12)
This was awesome news, score another one the good guys and for fighting terrorism to the last full measure.
Wow, God bless them and their families!
The story just gets more amazing as it dribbles out. Good guys infiltrated, convinced the bad guuys the Boss wanted to talk with the prisoners, put the captives on helicopters an dfly them to freedom.
Boy, I bet the FARC is feeling just a little embarrassed right now.
FARC is disintegrating before its very eyes. Top leaders are dead. much of their terrority is lost and now they have lost their main bargaining chips.
The news conference was pretty amazing. I don't have my computer set up yet for video blogging but there were some great soundbytes out of the days news conferences.
God bless them.
I have to say I'm disappointed the U.S. didn't seem to do more. What ever happened to no man left behind, or does that only apply to the military? It shouldn't. I don't know what negotiations may have gone on behind the scenes, however.
Does anyone know why it took so long? 5 years? Was there a reluctance to get involved b/c these were civilians (not as "important"), or was there opposition from the Columbian govt? It's great news, but I just wonder why this couldn't have been done sooner.
It took five years because the State Depatment made the choice that US support must be in the background. If the US was too involved it would have taken credibility away from the Columbian government, so the war has been a Columbian affair, but... The USA has pumped 5 billion in support as well provided significant intel to the Columbian operations. Enough to help them win, but not so much to take away credit for the Columbian victory. When Pablo Escobar (Drug Lord) was killed with US assistance a major scandal broke out a month afterwards when a photo of Americans standing over his body like prize gamehunters was released in Columbia, hence the wisdom of making this a Columbian affair. Now I am sure its cold comfort to the families of the hostages, but I think the less direct approach was for the best.
The FARC is clearly weakened from the recent events, including the death of their leader, Manuel Marulanda. As for why it took so long, the likely answer to that it that the jungle is very thick down there, and its not easy to find them. The fact that the Columbian defense ministry was able to somehow infiltrate the infiltrate the FARC is amazing in itself. That the FARC "fell for it" is beyond that.
Wow-- good news! God bless them indeed.
This is an amazing story!
Have a great 4th of July, Amy!!
The Che Guevara flag is flying low. The Colombians have a professional military thanks in part to our help. If the Chavez loving libs in this country had their way, this probably would not have happened.
foutsc,
I love the fact that the Columbian army used Che Guevera shirts to dupe and defeat a group of Marxist terrorists. Outstanding!
Goes to show the guerrilla's have heart.. they didn't shoot them or starve them to death or torture them unlike the real terrorists the subhumans controlling America and the subhuman scum in the American military massacring innocent people in the Middle East. I have no sympathy for any of the American soldiers that die or their allies.. good riddance.. fight the rich and not their war.. brain washed morons. WAKE UP!