Daring rescue frees hostages from jungles of Colombia, including Ingrid Betancourt

News Type: Event — Seeded on Wed Jul 2, 2008 8:00 PM EDT

world-news, columbia, farc, columbian-hostages-freed, ingid-betancourt, liberation-action-in-columbia

By Tyler Bridges and Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

CARTAGENA, Colombia Three American defense contractors held since 2003 by narco-guerillas in steamy jungle captivity were choppered to freedom here, it was announced Wednesday, in a daring rescue operation that resembled a Hollywood action film.

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{"commentId":2107317,"authorDomain":"bluecollarbytes"}

bluecollarbytes

excerpt 2: Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos announced Wednesday afternoon that the nation's special forces had rescued 15 hostages, including the three U.S. citizens and a former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, whose captivity had become an international cause celebre.

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1 vote

#1 - Wed Jul 2, 2008 8:01 PM EDT

{"commentId":2107329,"authorDomain":"bluecollarbytes"}

bluecollarbytes

Waiting with bait-like breath to see what pronouncements and condemnations spew out of Hugo Chavez.

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#2 - Wed Jul 2, 2008 8:02 PM EDT

{"commentId":2108603,"authorDomain":"LarryH"}

Larry H-189743

The rescue could prove the death knell for the FARC, suggested Bruce Bagley, a Latin America expert at the University of Miami.

"The FARC is in a serious process of deterioration. Its ability to function as a guerrilla or revolutionary group is increasingly in doubt," he said.

Colombia's conservative President Alvaro Uribe was elected on a platform of defeating the rebel group, which has in recent years come to be seen more as a criminal organization than a guerrilla movement. The Bush administration placed the FARC on the list of terrorist organizations.

"It's an end to a nightmare," Cesar Gaviria, a former Colombian president, told local television, congratulating Uribe.

Good News. Maybe the former hostages can meet our Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain! That would be fabulous PR for the former North Vietnamese prisoner-hostage.

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1 vote

#3 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 12:01 AM EDT

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Colombian rebels tricked into freeing hostage Ingrid Betancourt. By Jeremy McDermott. 12:46 AM BST July 03, 2008	Telegraph	Thu Jul 3	3
Colombia frees Betancourt, US hostages from rebels	Associated Press	Wed Jul 2	11
Betancourt 'rescued in Colombia'	BBC News	Wed Jul 2	2
US ex-hostage calls FARC rebels 'terrorists'	Agence-France Presse	Tue Jul 8	0
Freed US hostage denounces Colombian rebels	Associated Press	Wed Jul 2	0

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Daring rescue frees hostages from jungles of Colombia, including Ingrid Betancourt

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