Hostages snatched from FARC in daring raid
FARC’s ace in the hole is their stable of 700 hostages. Oops, make that 685–after an impossibly gutsy helicopter rescue by the Colombian Army freed 15 of their most high-profile prisoners, including the three Americans I mentioned back here.
How do you convince the FARC to get in a helicopter with you and turn over their most valuable hostages? Why, pretend you’re a trustifarian NGO, of course:
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,” Mr Santos said.
It’s like Clear and Present Danger meets Beverly Hills Cop. They even had the Colombian commandos dress up in Che Guevara T-shirts.
The helicopter was piloted by intelligence officers dressed as leftist sympathizers. Betancourt said the hostages thought they were being picked up by some kind of international humanitarian organization to be taken to the FARC high command.
“Our hearts broke. More captivity. Another transfer,” [Rescued hostage Ingrid] Betancourt said in a dramatic press conference minutes after embracing her mother.
She and the others were handcuffed as they boarded the helicopter, which she described as “humiliating.” Once they were airborne, everything happened so fast Betancourt missed it.
It was then that she saw {FARC prison commandant] Cesar, who had treated her so cruelly for so many years, was naked and blindfolded on the floor.
No word whether there was a banana in his tailpipe.
_____________________
Seriously, though, this is great news, and it’s one more blow to the rapidly collapsing FARC.
Kudos to President Uribe for staying the course, and avoiding the easy temptation of legitimating the FARC through their negotiations.
Oh, interesting detail from the Telegraph’s report about the FARC, in case you are discussing them with a sympathizing lefty: Those three American hostages were the lucky ones.
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.
Here’s a video of Ingrid Betancourt’s press conference.
Keep hunting the FARC down.
__________
UPDATE: A friend e-mailed to point out one brilliant psy-op advantage of this exercise–now the FARC will suspect every trustafarian in a Che T-shirt as a potential double agent!
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{Post by See-Dubya}
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Categories: Uncategorized, colombia
Ed Driscoll
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Expect whining and seething from leftists that our side have to run around in uniforms for their safety. Now the rebels won’t trust them.
Uribe has done great work in Colombia. After all these years the Maoist/terrorist/drug cartel opposition is finally being decisively dismantled. The Democrats in Congress and their labor union puppetmasters don’t care, and want to punish him and the Colombian people by opposing the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.
Wait, which side are the Democrats on? America’s? Ours? Mine? Yours? Nope. They’re on the the side of themselves only, damn the consequences. Labor unions are huge Democrat donors, after all.
I’m on the side of my country, of course, and also on the side of people all over the world who aspire to freedom, democracy, meritocracy and deliverance from entrenched corruption. That puts me on the side of the vast majority of Columbians, a fundamentally decent people who have endured unearned oppression for decades at the hands of a small minority of Marxist- and narco- terrorists.
America has a big stick, sure, but America also has a big heart. We should welcome Colombia into our family, based on the shared goals of both of our peoples. The Democrats have vowed to never let that happen. Their already-bulging wallets would suffer too much.
Spilling The Beans Could Bite Us Back
Yea, I’m pleased the hostages were rescued, and I understand the public’s curiosity and right to know, but how certain successful tactics work and future weapons are used (like on TV’s “Futureweapons” and too many others on the Mil Channel) only gives terrorists and enemies a heads-up on developing countermeasures and kills the element of surprise via novel techniques. Let secret stay secret!
James Greenidge
Queens NY
I think word of how the government pulled this off would have come to light anyways; the FARC prisoners would have clued their sympathizers and word would have gotten out.
That being said; the hostages were free, and you didn’t escort the terrorists out the door of the helicopter at high altitude?
What a great Independence Day surprise for those rescued Americans!
This is some of the best news to come out of that part of the world for a long time!
Congratulations to those involved in planning and executing this plan. And Welcome Home to those rescued.
(I’ll only mention as an aside my disquiet on the public release of the methods used as it will be harder to use them in the future.)
James, gray, Kevin, I fully agree with all of that.
Another defeat for the American left !! (FARC too!)
Good news is a great way to start the day!
I expect any time now to hear the Lame Stream Media complaining about us lying to the terrorists, winning their trust, then turning on them.
But, who cares what they think?
That’s torture, that’s torture. Call the ACLU. We’re going to thue, thue, thue.
–lgm, Red State Skeptic, TheOtherSide, Rusty
C’mon. Be nice. He was in Colombia, not on his way to the Folsom Street Fair.
So, Che t-shirts are our secret weapon? Finally, a good use for that evil man’s image. Did ya’ll see the photo of Ingrid and her mother? Poor woman looks older than her own mother. I can’t imagine what she’s been through. We must continue to pray for her and the other hostages.
This is good news but we must remember that there are still almost 700 more hostages so the victory while sweet is far from complete.
I agree with the other posters that sharing the details of the rescue only hampers the ability to repeat in the future as well as may limit the current channels that provided assistance to the hostages such as the Red Cross.
This democrats and republicans in Washington is how you fight a war on terror!
JHSII
Before too long, that statement may become redundant!
Apparently, FARC has deep relationships with NGO’s that the use of a helicopter to transfer kidnap victims was not uncommon. Could they include the Mac Arthur or Ford Foundations?
From Foxnews:
Anyone remember when the intel off those seized FARC computers had Obama’s name on it?
As reported by SD on this blog previously:
How many terrorist groups want Obama to win again?
The only group Obama is fooling with his empty suit rhetoric of wanting Columbia to win is his own rabid fan base of moonbats.
Of course the filth that writes on Huffpost are more concerned that McCain will get any credit for this. None of them really care that 3 Americans were returned home.
Can we trade these people for the 700 current hostages of FARC? Wait, I guess we can’t. Huffposters are FARC supporters.
I read that they also restrained themselves from firing down on the terrorists left on the ground as the helicopter took off.
Interesting…glad this time, the “humanitarian” helicopter was truly used for good. I thought that’s what NGOs like Ford Foundation say that they do???
Hear, hear!!
The brain trust at MSNBC is opinionizing that this is a publicity stunt by the McCain campaign and Uribe to boost McCain’s image in the polls. “The timing is just too convenient. Maybe this was the only reason he went to Columbia in the first place”. Them guys at MSNBC are real believers.
I’m sure, and the Obama camp probably views it as a direct insult to the chosen one.
If he becomes POTUS, will he strike Columbia of Pakistan first?
oops..OR
HAH! That’s RICH! I’m truly enjoying watching it play out in my head.
This would be a great movie…Gary Sinise..Jim Caviezel to star….
Let’s get the talent- on this site -together and produce it!!!!!!!
You know what, I don’t care it if was publicity stunt, (and I don’t think it was, McCain doesn’t have that kind of pull) we have Americans returned to their families.
They know how to take out the trash in Colombia.
#10, High Fives.
Brilliant operation. I’m getting a Che T-Shirt with a chopper in the background.
McCain was “campaigning” in Columbia? For the US Presidency? Two days before July 4, Independence Day? C’mon, that ridiculous!
It’s obviously a cover for his real mission….piloting one of the helicopters into the jungle wearing a Che shirt, on a “No man left behind” mission. Now THAT’s a Patriot!
Damn, the guy sure is humble about his heroics.
Someone please Photoshop McCain into a helicopter pilot’s seat, complete w/ Che shirt
I would, but I’m not that good.
“We’re from a fictitious non-government organisation, and we’re here to help.”
It’s nice to see these hostages freed and coming and going home.
Just something I noticed:
The hostages were not freed – they were rescued.
The media have been getting it wrong all day; don’t follow in their footsteps, please?
From what I understand, U.S. intelligence played a roll in the operation, they located where the hostages were being held.
Now all I need to do is to purchase a red Che Guevara T-shirt and infiltrate the lefty liberal / Marxist organizations in the USA and speed up the collapse of anti-American groups like the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), Moveon.org and National Council of La Raza. They all
accept the red Che Guevara T-shirt as a form of identification of of fellow comrades.
I am glad these people are rescued. Uribe has been a godsend to Colombia. However, I must state that I am Cuban American and I keep up with news in Latin America. Ingrid Bentacourt is a leftist. She went personally to FARC to negotiate a peace deal with these guerrillas to stop the violence. I would plead for all to keep an eye out on her because she is hinting on running for the presidency and she is not someone I would trust. We do not know what went on behind her “captivity.” Uribe warned her not to be foolish to negotiate with FARC, but she is one of these lefty loony peace people, Obama-like who thought she was an “inspiration,” Messiah-like. She might want to use her captivity for political expediency and gain Uribe’s position in the future. We do not know what went on during her “captivity.” Thank God the Americans are safe and all others as well. But coming out of Cuban politics and reading and listening to Latin American news, this is something to keep an eye on.
MSNBC has a braintrust? Who knew?
No, she went to San Vicente del Caguan because its inhabitants had personally requested her to be there in the hope that her presence, and therefore that of the press which was constantly following her movements due to it being an election year, would deter FARC from exacting reprisals on them.
She has never had any sympathy for FARC, and even less now, presumably.
#33- Die Hippie,Die- Absolutely a great picture. Is that a young Keith Olbermann?
Can’t be Oldermann; it’s an indoor toilet.
Kudos to the Columbian government. Save the demagoguery JHSII…you demean the significance of this event with your silliness.