15 FARC Hostages Freed

By ricardoemp On July 2, 2008 · 3 Comments

Former Presidential Candidate Ingrid Betancourt, the three US contractors and 11 high ranking Colombian military officials have been freed from captivity by the armed forces in the eastern Colombian jungles.

Those free today

Contratistas estadounidenses
  • Keith Stansell
  • Thomas Howen
  • Mark Gonzalve
Civil
  • Ingrid Betancourt
Ejército colombiano
  • Teniente Juan Carlos Bermeo
  • Subteniente Raimundo Malagón
  • Sargento Segundo José Ricardo Marulanda
  • Cabo Primero William Pérez
  • Sargento Segundo Erasmo Romero
  • Cabo Primero José Miguel Arteaga
  • Cabo Primero Armando Flórez
Policía
  • Cabo Primero Julio Buitrago
  • Subteniente Armando Castellanos
  • Subteniente Vianey Rodríguez
  • Cabo Primero Jhon Jairo Durán

Apparently the liberation came about thanks to the work of an operative who had infiltrated the FARC and managed to persuade his companions that they were to march the hostages off to a helicopter rendez vous to meet the new leader of the FARC Alfonso Cano. In fact the helicopter in question was a military vehicle painted to resemble that of an NGO – albeit a fictitious NGO. The helicopter then flew the hostages to freedom. As far as we know there was no loss of life in Operacion Jaque.

What has happened is the news story of the year here in Colombia, some of the hostages have been in captivity for 10 years. that is 10 years of forced marches and jungle illnesses. 10 years away from your family and loved ones.

The FARC are down but not yet out. Colombia waits, jubilant for the timebeing for we are at the crossroads of history.

Lets get the remaining 600(?) out of those jungles and back to their families…

 
 

 

3 responses to 15 FARC Hostages Freed

  1. Avatar ImageExpert

    Julie Schwietert Collazo said on July 3, 2008

    For those of you who don’t know much about Betancourt or have had trouble keeping up with all of the news in the past 24 hours, head on over to our sister blog, http://www.matadorpulse.com, where we’ve got a quick primer about Betancourt up, complete with video.

  2. Avatar ImageExpert

    Lola Akinmade said on July 3, 2008

    Miracles do come through and prayers do get answered.

  3. Avatar ImageExpert

    Richard McColl said on July 3, 2008

    Yes, nothing has really been mentioned as yet about her treatment while in captivity…this will out soon enough. After the images of her in the jungle splashed about a few months ago we were led to believe she was suffering from various types of hepatitis, malaria, chronic bowel disrders and more.

    In my personal experience, most Colombians I know are tired of the FARC, maybe 20 something years ago they represented a legitimate political voice but have now been drawn away from their key aims and the ideology is no longer there. I know students who are pro the movement but cannot see the sense in the armed conflict.

    Talking to someone just the other day, he said: “Supposedly they are fighting for the people, this is what they all say…then why do they always end up killing the people?”

    I had the opportunity some months ago to accompany the top brass and President to a meeting in Cali in order to meet 350 recently demobilized FARC guerrillas. These were kids of 16 and 17 years old with few opportunties. Their answer to my questions as to why they joined up – “We needed the work, the FARC said that they would provide for our families.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Please Log In

You must log in to view this content.

Remember me Forgot my password

Not a member? Click here to register and get started!

Mobile Site