Friday July 4, 2008, 6:12 pm
I find it interesting that the new term for "mercenaries" is "contractors"

Friday July 4, 2008, 6:12 pm
Odds are that Ingrid Betencort will be the next president of Columbia. The only question that remains is, why?

Friday July 4, 2008, 7:02 pm

How oddly coincidental that McCain happened to be visiting?

Thanks, Mark.

Friday July 4, 2008, 8:48 pm
Very interesting, I had a feeling. It was executed beautifully, no one was killed.

Thanks, Mark

Friday July 4, 2008, 9:19 pm
Thanks for this very informative story on the rescue of the contractors Mark.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 6:14 am

Oh, no ! McCain isn't trying to take credit for this, is he ?

Saturday July 5, 2008, 6:54 am

While Colombia President Uribe has received compliments from Ingrid Betancourt on the 'perfect' rescue (she is claiming it was the Colombian army that freed her) and praise for him for the rescue operation is ringing around the globe, let's not forget the facts :

From "Democracy Now," July 3rd

Critics: Don’t Let Rescue Boost Uribe Policies


Critics are warning the rescue mission could help deflect attention from a series of controversies surrounding Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the extensive US military aid to his government. In a statement, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs said, “Mindless U.S. support of a regime that tacitly allowed [paramilitary] groups to function should not be applauded nor should the hundreds of trade union leaders that have been murdered during the Uribe presidency be forgotten.”

Saturday July 5, 2008, 7:06 am
Harrowing details of the captivity of Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages in Colombia emerged yesterday, at the same time as doubts surfaced over the official version of their daring rescue.

The French-Colombian politician and the captives freed in Wednesday's military operation described casual sadism, inhumane conditions and even killings in the jungle camps of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

Betancourt said she was often chained to a tree and haunted by thoughts of killing herself during her six-year ordeal. "Death is a hostage's most faithful companion. We lived with death ... and the seduction of suicide was always with us."

Another former hostage, army nurse William Pérez, said that at one point Betancourt was so depressed that she spent two weeks barely eating. "I had to spoonfeed her, like a child, saying 'this spoonful is for Mélanie [her daughter], and this one for Lorenzo [her son]'," Pérez said.

The bleak descriptions confirmed some of her supporters' fears about her captivity. The celebrations were also overshadowed by a claim that a $20m (£10m) ransom was paid and the audacious rescue was to some extent stage-managed. Washington, Paris and Bogotá denied the allegation.

Betancourt, 46, told French TV she had been treated abominably. "I wouldn't have given the treatment I had to an animal, perhaps not even to a plant." If the guerrillas were in a bad mood, they would tighten the chain around her neck so it was difficult to breathe, she said.

The hostages' chains used to come off at 5am when radio programmes began transmitting messages from relatives. Coffee was served and then they lined up for breakfast. "After that we had to try to figure out what to do for the following 11-and-a-half hours of the day. During captivity, at some point no one has anything left to say to each other - everyone just sits in silence," said Betancourt.

The former presidential candidate fell sick from jungle maladies and would often vomit when she ate. She bathed in rivers fully dressed because male guards would stare. Asked if she had been raped, she said: "I have had painful experiences ... but I don't want to talk about this here, now at this time of happiness."

Another former hostage, Armando Castellanos, one of 11 Colombian soldiers and police who, with Betancourt and three US military contractors, were plucked from the jungle by helicopter, said that the rebels killed a police officer because he had "psychological problems".

Luis Hernando Peña Bonilla, kidnapped in 1998, was shot five years ago because the guerrillas found his behaviour unpredictable. They also shot his dog, Laika, which had seldom left his side. The news devastated his mother, Leonor.

Colombia's authorities have continued to bask in the euphoria of delivering a spectacular blow to the insurgency.

MAYBE THEY WILL CEASE BASKING WHEN THE NARCONEWS STORY BECOMES COMMON KNOWLEDGE.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 10:41 am
Who really cares if they were colombians or north-americans the soldiers that brought Betancourt and another 14 "prisoners" to freedom? Any wellborn person should be grateful of such exploit.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 11:40 am
Ahhhhhh, Yes! Secrecy and lies: Business as usual in the Cheney Cabal.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 12:02 pm
Unite con (solamente en español) grupo de 'facebook' UN MILLON DE VOCES CONTRA LAS FARCGlobalInformación
Información Básica
Tipo: Interés común - Las Politicas
Descripción: PARALICEMOS A COLOMBIA ESTE 20 DE JULIO: TODOS A LA CALLE!!!!

PORQUE YO CREO EN DIOS...
PORQUE CREO EN MIS FUERZAS MILITARES Y DE POLICÍA...
PORQUE CREO EN LOS COLOMBIANOS…
PORQUE EL 4 DE FEBRERO LO LOGRAMOS Y LLEGO HASTA EL CORAZÓN DE LA SELVA...
ESTE 4 DE JULIO LO REAFIRMAREMOS.
TODOS A LA CALLE POR LOS QUE FALTAN.

NO MAS SECUESTROS !!!

NO MAS FARC!!!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6684734468

Saturday July 5, 2008, 1:10 pm
I agree with Enric. Why can't you just be happy for the people who have been rescued instead of spouting the usual irrelevant venom. Who cares who was involved in the rescue. Those people are now (at least physically)free so rejoice.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 1:27 pm

The "wellborn" people who finance the death squads are well aware that the indigenous people they have been committing genocide against endure living conditions that are often worse than those of the hostages. Most poor people targeted in countries like Colombia where U.S.-backed death squads operate, lack access to clean drinking water, have miserable diets and often no food at all, live in makeshift shacks in squalid barrios after being forced off their lands by death squads, and the purpose of all this is to make those wellborn people richer.

Just suppose that you were an indigenous person living with your tribe in a small jungle village. Oil is discovered nearby so the death squads come in and kill everyone in your village. Just come in to the village before dawn and machine gun everyone in their beds, men, women, children, animals, everyone, burn down the huts and destroy the fields. Now the corporations can move in and exploit the oil without local interference or resistance. But suppose that you had been away at school at the time and you return to find your family, everyone you loved, and your entire tribe dead.

So you join the opposition, the FARC rebels. But they are also poor people like yourself. And they have no way to fight a government that has millions of dollars of U.S. armaments and has death squads armed and trained by a foreign government that operate on behalf of big multinational corporations. You can't buy helicopters. You can't hire mercenaries. You are just poor people up against a government of wellborn people with unlimited resources whose greed requires that they kill you so that they can get richer.

So you take hostages, when you can find wellborn people who happen to have ventured beyond their gated communities without Blackwater or other mercenary protection. Your life and the lives of other poor people don't matter to the fascist government, but the lives of rich people like themselves do.

Enric and Donald represent the fascist forces that have always been and are still committing genocide against indigenous peoples. They believe that the wellborn are superior and have an absolute right to murder the poor because the poor aren't generating profits for the rich.

But not all wellborn people are fascists. Fidel Castro wasn't born poor. Subcomandante Marcos wasn't born poor. Many people who care about others were born to the wealthy elite, and it was the callous way in which their parents and their parents' friends violated the human rights of the poor, that led them to dedicate their lives to helping the oppressed.

FARC vive! La lucha sigue! Venceremos!

--Guerrillie Guy

Saturday July 5, 2008, 2:32 pm
Kudos to Mark's comments on above story, so true.Woe betide the "big Boys" when the people of Columbia, Ecquador, Bolivia and Peru become strong enough to win against this diabolical union of US military, CIA and silent businessmen/partners whose outrageous profits stem from the exploitation and blood of those who've fought and died for the continued cross-border trade. Peace in Our Quest For Truth

Saturday July 5, 2008, 3:38 pm
That explains why several USA soldiers(Merci´s) are seen standing around Ingrid Betancourt on the news just after the rescue.

Saturday July 12, 2008, 7:42 pm
Did FARC confirm that they were tricked!?And Betancourt certainly looks very healthy for someone mistreated for years!!.

Thursday July 17, 2008, 5:05 pm
Mark S where are you?