By Hugh Bronstein
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's rescue of 15 rebel-heldhostages, including politician Ingrid Betancourt and threeAmericans, was a severe blow to Latin America's oldestleft-wing insurgency and a coup for President Alvaro Uribe.
Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen and formerpresidential candidate, had been held for more than six yearsby the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC,and was its best-known captive.
The rescue of 15 hostages in a bloodless operation onWednesday that involved tricking the rebels, bolstered Uribe ashe fends off a political scandal over bribery charges andfurther weakened the negotiating position of the FARC. Thegroup is reeling after the death of three top leaders.
The successful mission could shore up investor confidencein Uribe, a U.S. ally who is hugely popular at home for hissecurity drive against the FARC and his free-market policies tofoster investment and economic growth.
Betancourt, 46, a mother of two, wept and prayed as shehugged relatives at a Bogota air base while the three U.S.defence contractors -- Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves andThomas Howes -- were flown to the United States after fiveyears in captivity.
"I feel like I am returning from a journey into the past,"said Betancourt, dressed in a combat jacket and appearing indecent health.
Eleven kidnapped soldiers and police also were releasedafter the 22-minute rescue operation in the southern jungleprovince of Guaviare. Colombia said the mission involvedinfiltration of rebel leadership and soldiers acting as aidworkers who pretended to transport hostages to a FARCcommander's camp.
"It was an intelligence operation comparable with thegreatest epics of human history but without a drop of bloodbeing spilled, without one weapon being fired," Uribe said.
The FARC, considered a terrorist organization by U.S. andEuropean officials, still has scores of other hostages, some ofwhom have been held for a decade. It wants to swap them forjailed guerrilla fighters but is arguing with the governmentover the terms of an exchange.
Betancourt had not been seen since a rebel video last yearin which she appeared gaunt and depressed in a jungle camp. Thevideo provoked outrage as former hostages told how she had beenchained after repeated escape attempts.
She said the hostages were forced onto a helicopterhandcuffed but were then amazed to see their captors disarmedon board and hear from an army officer, "You are free."
TOUGHER NEGOTIATIONS
The freed Americans all worked for Northrop Grumman andwere captured in 2003 after their light aircraft crashed in thejungles during a counternarcotics operation.
Hours after their release, they were flown to San Antonioand taken to Fort Sam Houston, an Army post.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a self-styled socialistrevolutionary who has been at odds with Uribe over his supportfor the rebels, called the Colombian leader to congratulate himon the successful operation, Venezuelan state television said.
The FARC had been pressured to negotiate after Chavez, itsclosest political ally, urged it last month to end the war.
Analysts said Wednesday's dramatic rescue increased thepressure on the outlawed rebel army.
"The only option left for the FARC is to take a morepolitical approach to the Colombian government," said PabloCasas, an analyst at Bogota think tank Security and Democracy.
"They will have to change their approach based on thesuccess of Uribe's military policies. Even Chavez says theyshould stop their use of kidnapping and other violentstrategies," Casas said.
Others said the humiliation of the stunning rescue coulddrive the guerrillas to be more violent in an effort to regainmilitary credibility.
Betancourt was kidnapped while campaigning for thepresidency in 2002 when, against the advice of the armedforces, she went to FARC-controlled southern Colombia and wasstopped at a rebel roadblock.
The FARC wants Uribe to pull back troops from an area thesize of New York City to facilitate hostage talks. But Uribe,an anti-guerrilla hard-liner whose father was killed in abotched FARC kidnapping two decades ago, offers a smaller safehaven under international observation.
The outlawed rebel army, once a 17,000-member force able toattack cities, has been driven back into remote areas and nowhas about 9,000 combatants.
(Additional reporting by Adriana Garcia in Washington;Writing by Patrick Markey in New York; Editing by Bill Trott)
