Posted on 07/02/2008 4:01:12 PM PDT by americanophile
The Colombian military said today it has rescued 15 hostages from a leftist guerrilla group, including three American defense contractors and former Colombia presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told a news conference in Bogota that all the rescued hostages are in reasonably good health after being held for years in jungle camps by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC. Eleven of those rescued are members of the Colombian army and police.
The three Americans -- Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes -- were conducting an aerial surveillance mission as part of an antidrug program when their plane crashed in FARC-held jungle territory in February 2003. Last year, videos captured by the Colombian military from suspected rebels showed the three haggard men standing in a clearing in what appeared to be a clandestine jungle camp.
Betancourt, a writer with dual French and Colombian citizenship, was seized by the FARC in 2002 while campaigning for the presidency in rebel territory. Captured with her was her aide, Clara Rojas, who was released along with another woman in January in a deal brokered by neighboring Venezuela.
Betancourt was last seen in a rebel video in late 2007 looking gaunt and dispirited.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Happy 4th of July for those 3 American former hostages and all of their family and friends!! What a wonderful INDEPENDENCE DAY they will enjoy on Friday.
Congratulations to all of the freed hostages and all of their families and friends who must be so relieved.
What a great event!
Oh, yeah, I keep expecting to see Dodd, Harkin, and Jon Carry jet down to Venezuela and Colombia to try to negotiate a rescue package for their FARC buddies. Now that the terrorists are getting their butts kicks all over the jungle it is time for sympathetic leftists to try to intervene to save their friends.
Chalk one up for the good guys.
“U.S. presidential candidate John McCain said Uribe had told him in advance of the rescue plans while he was campaigning in Colombia. ‘It’s a very high-risk operation,’ he said. ‘I congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of Colombia.’
Tell B Hussein Obama this is what the military does, it kicks ass and takes names. Years of negotiations with these animals got no where, the Colombian military did the job. Up your too Hugo, you putz, another embarassment for you and your FARC comrades. This should break their backs, I am sure the already terrible morale of the FARC foot soldiers is completely shot now.
It wouldn't surprise me at all. The Dims love Latin Marxists, although it seems to me FARC and Chavez are hardly ideologues, more like drug-running thugs.
Colombia seems to have FARC on the run. It's been years in the making, but has really picked up steam since that spectacular attack across the border into Ecuador to kill the No.2 and seize the FARC's laptops. I think we could see a collapse, soon. There are even whispers now that some of Chavez's backers are quietly dropping him.
President Uribe rocks! The world should study him to see how to defeat terrorists and narco-guerillas!
Thank god, it’s about time.
Uribe, finish the FARC off.
I loved one account which said that no one was injured, except that two rebels were “neutralized” during the helicopter ride. I hope that I am correctly imagining what that means.
The Wall Street Journal adds in their account that they have seen the papers linking Chavez to the FARC. Time to take out Chavez.
Yes...this is a reason to celebrate! God bless these freed men.
FANTASTIC news!
Lets not forget that one other American was killed the day their chopper crashed-—by FARC. Tom Janis will not be forgotten.
Indeed.
They should have sent in an airstrike and eliminated the rest of the FARC 1st front. They allowed the other 50 or so low-level guerrillas to escape ...
Oh well ... Rescuing the hostages without a shot being fired should embarrass and demoralize the FARC enough.
RIP Tom Janis ...
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