BOGOTA — Ingrid Betancourt woke up, as always, at 4 a.m., for another numbing day in her seventh year of rebel captivity deep in Colombia's jungle.
The former presidential candidate listened to news of her mother and daughter over the radio, then was told to pack by her guerrilla captors – helicopters were coming.
The sound always filled her with dread, but this time she and 14 other hostages, including three U.S. military contractors held since 2003, were airlifted to freedom in an audacious operation involving military spies who tricked the rebels into handing over their prize hostages without firing a shot.
Its success hinged entirely, its planners said yesterday, on a near-total breakdown in communications between the isolated guerrilla jailers and their commanders, the net result of years of intense U.S.-Colombian military co-operation that has seriously weakened Latin America's last major rebel army.
That, and a bit of revenge.
“When I first got briefed, I said, ‘This is realistic? Can this truly work?' ” U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said. “And obviously, the answer was yes.”
Wednesday's expertly choreographed rescue plan began to gain steam only in January, when Colombian intelligence determined that the hostages were being moved, said General Freddy Padilla, Colombia's armed forces chief.
The Colombians installed U.S.-provided remote-controlled video monitoring devices, which can zoom in and out, along rivers that are the only transport route through dense jungles, U.S. and Colombian officials said. U.S. surveillance planes intercepted rebel radio and satellite phone conversations and employed foliage-penetrating imagery.
In mid-February, a Colombian patrol spotted the three Americans – Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes – bathing in the Apoporis River under guard, the first sight of the Americans since their surveillance plane crashed in 2003.
For four days, “we had eyes on them,” Mr. Brownfield said.
But a rescue operation was deemed too risky and called off.
“The [Colombian] President's order was: rescue, yes, but without even a drop of blood,” said a Colombian army general directly involved in the mission, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The general said a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had agreed to spearhead the operation. This infiltrator, he said, was trusted by both the rebels' high command and by the leader of the 1st Front, which was holding the hostages. The infiltrator was upset with the FARC because his own commander had taken a house and farm away from him, the general said. This was payback.
“The FARC's communications are medieval,” Gen. Padilla said. He said its command-and-control is so diminished that it sends important messages by courier.
So the infiltrator was the key. He persuaded Gerardo Aguilar Ramirez, alias Cesar, the commander of the 1st Front, that top commanders wanted the 15 hostages moved to a rallying point, the general directly involved in the operation said.
U.S. spy satellites helped track the hostages on a month-long journey that began May 31 and ended with Wednesday's rescue.
On Monday, President Alvaro Uribe gave the go-ahead, Gen. Padilla said.
On Tuesday, the two Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters left a military base in an Andean mountain valley, settling down for a nervous night in a wilderness clearing.
Aboard were four Air Force crewmen in civilian disguise, seven military intelligence agents and the guerrilla infiltrator, military officials said. Two of the agents were dressed as rebels, and the rest wore white, as if representing some sort of humanitarian mission. All had taken a week and a half of acting lessons.
Shortly after midday on Wednesday, the helicopter touched down at the rendezvous point.
“The helicopter was on the ground for 22 minutes,” said army chief General Mario Montoya, “the longest minutes of my life.”
There was no need for Plan B – sending 39 helicopters and 2,000 troops to encircle the hostage-holders and trying to persuade them to give up peacefully.
