For this entry I contacted a ‘reporter’ to write a piece for me on the rescue of FARC hostages in the Colombian jungle. In my opinion not many movies can trounce this story.

"Whenever there is major news here in Colombia, it is either a great event or, more often, a tragedy. I was sitting at my desk going through countless articles on one of many scandals here in Colombia that I was researching for the company where I am interning, when I heard various people in the office shout: “liberaron a Ingrid!” “Ingrid has been liberated!” Everyone in the office rushed to the nearest TV set to witness the unprecedented incident.

Colombia’s Minister of Defense, Juan Manuel Santos, was debriefing a group of journalists on the occurrences of the day. He related the intricate plot that was carried out by the army against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a guerrilla group that is classified by both North American governments and the European Union as a terrorist group.

During various attacks against military bases, illegal road blocks, and in outright combat over the years that date back to the 1990’s, thousands of soldiers, policemen, and civilians have ended up in the FARC’s concentration camps, deprived of their freedom.

For that reason, when Santos revealed that military personnel had rescued 15 of the most important kidnapped victims, the whole country came to a stand still.

For the next thirty minutes, everyone in the office was plastered to their television screens, and all the websites that we tried to access crashed as thousands of users tried to obtain information about the epic situation being witnessed.

Several hours later, as the euphoria of the liberation climaxed, Ingrid Betancourt, an ex-presidential candidate kidnapped 76 months ago while campaigning for the presidency in the remote Guaviare region of Colombia, along with three U.S. military contractors, and eleven Colombian military personnel that had been in captivity for up to ten years, landed on the tarmac of Catam Military Base in Bogota. She was received by a multitude of reporters, as well as her mother and husband, who for years struggled to rescue their loved one.

Over the past six years and four months, Ingrid had become the emblem of all of the over 700 hostages that are still being held by FARC, the longest of whom have been on an endless crusade in the jungle that is now surpassing eleven years!

Over the past four months, this shrilling picture has circled the globe, as a campaign for her liberation, primarily led by the French government (she is also a French citizen), had been pressuring the Colombian authorities to bargain with the FARC for her release. To everyone’s surprise, the fruitless works of this campaign to attain her release ended as she stepped off the plane with the rest of her formerly captive “family” of 14, with whom she began to recount the day’s events.

She began by giving praise to God almighty, through whom the military operation had been, in her words, “an impeccable miracle.” And indeed it merits the qualification of an impeccable, perhaps even supernatural performance, for the series of events that she then proceeded to describe truly sounded as if they were from an exotic Hollywood movie.

As has been noted, the French effort to gain her freedom had in recent days met with the FARC to try to bargain her release perhaps in exchange of some guerrilla that are currently imprisoned. As a result, there had been rumors circulating that she might be released to a humanitarian organization in cooperation with Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, who in January and February of this year achieved the release of several former Colombian congressmen held captive by the FARC.

Consequently, Ingrid began her tale by saying that she had customarily awoken at around 4:30am, and prayed her usual prayer in hopes that perhaps today would be the day of her liberation… perchance the harsh, in her words, “despotic and humiliating” wills of the commanders who inhumanely held her chained to trees, would sway.

At around 11 AM, one of these commanders told her that it had been arranged so that she would be transferred along with fourteen of the most prized prisoners to a safer location, where they might be able to dialogue with the newly instated leader of the FARC, Alfonso Cano (the long time ruling founder of the FARC, Manuel Marulanda died of natural causes last month), and where they would continue to be held in captivity.
She tells that as soon as she heard that word, “captivity,” all her hopes were dashed for her release to a humanitarian organization.

Notwithstanding, an hour later, two white helicopters hovered overhead and landed on the opposite bank of a turbulent jungle river. She confessed that unlike all other occasions when helicopters had hovered in the vicinity, she did not feel fear. A helicopter overhead usually meant waking in the middle of the night, quickly packing her few belongings, putting on her permanently damp and cold clothing, and embarking on treks that usually lasted over ten hours, as the ensuing military troops drew ever closer. It is estimated that Ingrid traveled around 300 km a year by foot through dense and at times seemingly impenetrable tropical forest. For this reason, she describes it as a completely surreal experience when she actually felt a renewed hope at seeing the helicopters that were to transfer her to a new location.

As she crossed the river by canoe, the doors of the helicopter opened, and several men and women wearing white clothing with strange emblems from an unheard of organization walked towards the shore to greet them. She remarks that what made the whole situation very strange was the fact that the helicopters were plain white, with no emblems, no markings, nothing. As she got off the canoes she noticed that the men in white were actually wearing T-shirts with the face of Che Guevara. Instantly, her hopes were once more broken as she realized that they were not members of any humane organization: they were clearly FARC supporters. They ordered all the prisoners to have their hands handcuffed, and to humiliatingly enter the helicopter with the two guerrilla “jailers” that over saw their confinement. She refused to be helped as she carried her belongings on board.

Once the fifteen hostages and the two armed “jailers” were aboard, the helicopter took off. She explained that she did not pay attention to what happened next, but that she heard someone fall down, and when she looked over, the two jailers who had for so long held her imprisoned, lay naked on the ground with their eyes bound. She revealed that she did not feel happiness at seeing her “domineering” captors weak and defenseless, but rather felt “pity.”

The troops flying them to safety then proclaimed: “we are your National Army, welcome to freedom!”

The events that Ingrid so movingly communicated were part of a military operative called JAQUE (Spanish for Checkmate).In a martial operative without precedent, JAQUE achieved the rescue of 15 hostages without a single shot being fired. In an intricate operation with the help of Israeli intelligence technology, military personnel managed to infiltrate the commanding ranks of the FARC over a period of several months, and finally gained full confidence of the “jailers” in charge of the hostages. They convinced the jailers that it would be beneficial to move the hostages to a safer local deeper in the rainforest, and thus arranged for the transport of the captives. They even managed to infiltrate the head leadership of the FARC, confirming the transfer operation with Cano himself. However, the biggest problem was the fact that the fifteen men and women were in three separate groups up to 100km apart. The military managed to convince those in charge of the captives to bring them all together in one location for pickup. Thus, planning to “transfer” the kidnapped, the military orchestrated an audacious and risky attempt that freed 15 individuals from their oppression.

An awesome and incredible story as this has brought a lot of joy to a country and a people that have for decades been the victims of equally traumatic tragedies as a result of the FARC.

Equally amazing, is the fact that there are still thousands of victims of kidnappings that are each day marching on without ever knowing if they will leave the unending forest behind. However, what never ceases to astound me is the very limited knowledge that the rest of the world has of the fate of these unlucky individuals. I believe that one of the greatest problems that Colombia currently faces is the fact that stories like these remain unbeknownst to most.

I would appreciate it if everyone who reads this would share it with as many people as possible, regardless of whatever you may think of the actions of the Colombian government, the FARC, or this post. The people that will hopefully continue to make it out alive will thank you in the future, just as Ingrid and her free compatriots recognize the fact that they owe their lives to those that never forgot them."

-Antonio Acevedo