Betancourt was seized over six years ago while campaigning for president in the Colombian jungle.
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manual Santos said the rescue of the 46-year-old dual citizen and the 14 other hostages happened in an operation that "will no doubt go down in history for its audacity."
Unprecedented operation
Betancourt's captors were duped by a Colombian military team posing as rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Santos said the military Czechoslovakia's beginnings in France remembered ...
Bush meets ally Sarkozy in Paris ...
France to relaunch efforts to free Betancourt ...
German President Köhler visits Croatia ... intelligence agents infiltrated the guerrilla ranks and led the local commander in charge of the hostages, alias Cesar, to believe they were going to take them by helicopter to Alfonso Cano, the guerrillas' supreme leader.
Speaking to reporters, Betancourt said the hostages didn't know their new captors were actually Colombian soldiers in disguise.
It was only when the helicopter was in the air that "the chief of operations said, 'We are the national army and you are all free.' And the helicopter almost fell because we started jumping. We screamed, we cried, we hugged. We couldn't believe it," Betancourt said.
Betancourt thanks France
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Sarkozy met with Betancourt's children Lorenzo and Melanie Delloye in Paris after the news of her release She said she will travel to France to meet President Nicolas Sarkozy now that she is free, as she credits her survival of the ordeal to efforts by the French to press for her release. First she will be reunited with her family in Colombia.
Her rescue is considered the most serious blow dealt to FARC, who saw Betancourt and three Americans captured in 2003 as their most valuable bargaining chips.
The Americans -- former Defense Department contract workers Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes -- returned to the United States on Wednesday evening.
US President George W. Bush praised the rescue operation in a phone call with Colombian President Alvare Uribe, the White House said.
In Paris, President Sarkozy expressed his gratitude that "a nightmare of more than six years has ended." Sarkozy has sent his foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, to Colombia.
"Nightmare has ended"
Betancourt had not been seen since a rebel "proof of life" video broadcast last year, in which she appeared thin and depressed in a jungle camp. The US hostages, also shown in the video, described how she was slowly succumbing to Hepatitis B and tropical skin diseases, and was kept chained to a tree after attempts to escape.
Betancourt's family waged a campaign for her freedom, organizing events in both Colombia and France, despite warnings from the Colombian government that raising her profile in such a way only made her a more valuable hostage for the FARC rebels.
(Deutsche Welle)
more info >>
<< Back