By Hugh Bronstein
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourtand three U.S. hostages held for years by guerrillas wererescued on Wednesday after soldiers posing as aid workers dupedtheir captors into putting them on a helicopter.
The rescue -- without a shot being fired -- was a huge blowto Latin America's oldest insurgency, already badly weakened byPresident Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed campaign to defeat therebels and the cocaine trade fueling Colombia's conflict.
Betancourt, 46, a dual French-Colombian citizen and formerpresidential candidate, was the highest-profile captive held bythe Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, andhad been a held in the Colombian jungle for six years.
"I believe that this is a sign of peace for Colombia, thatwe can find peace," Betancourt said, weeping as she thanked theColombian military in her first public comments, carried onColombian radio station Caracol.
Minutes later, a pale but smiling Betancourt landed atBogota's air force base, walking down the stairs of the planeand hugging her mother, Yolanda Pulecio, on the runway.
Betancourt had not been seen since a rebel video broadcastlast year in which she appeared gaunt and depressed in a junglecamp. The video provoked outrage in Colombia and overseas asformer fellow hostages later told how she had been chained upafter repeated escape attempts.
She said the hostages were forced onto a helicopterhandcuffed, but were then amazed to see their captors disarmedas the aircraft took off, describing an action film ending toher captivity when one army officer said, "You are free."
The operation, from the helicopter's landing to thedisarming of the two guerrillas on board, took 22 minutes and13 seconds, said Gen. Freddy Padilla, head of Colombia's armedforces. The two rebels were in custody.
Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said Colombian militaryintelligence had infiltrated the guerrilla movement in thesouthern jungle province of Guaviare, where soldiers posed asmembers of a fictitious aid group that was to fly the hostagesby helicopter to a camp to meet a rebel commander.
"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.
Fifteen long-held kidnap victims were rescued in all.
The FARC has been holding about 40 high-profile hostages ithas sought to exchange for jailed rebels. But attempts to reachnegotiate their release have failed.
In a late-night televised address, Uribe said he will notrest until all FARC hostages are freed and invited the rebelsto talk. Betancourt looked on as he spoke from the presidentialpalace and then spoke herself, recounting the rescue.
AMERICANS EN ROUTE HOME
The freed Americans worked for Northrop Grumman and werecaptured in 2003 after their aircraft crashed in the jungleduring a counternarcotics operation.
The former Defence Department contract workers, MarcGonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes, returned to theUnited States on Wednesday evening.
U.S. President George W. Bush spoke by telephone with Uribeand praised the rescue operation, the White House said.
In Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, "Today anightmare of more than six years has ended." Sarkozy, who hadhad made vigorous efforts to seek Betancourt's freedom, senthis foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, to Colombia.
"I am filled with happiness," Betancourt's sister, Astrid,told Colombian radio. "These have been long years of waiting."
Betancourt was kidnapped by the FARC while campaigning forthe presidency in 2002 when, against the advice of the armedforces, she travelled along a rural road in southern Colombiaand was stopped at a rebel roadblock.
The presidents of Chile, Brazil and Peru praised Uribe forthe rescue operation as a gain for peace and democracy.
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.
Chavez this year brokered the release of a group ofhostages held by the FARC. But a Colombian army mission to killa top FARC commander inside Ecuador triggered an Andean crisisthat threatened to spill over into border violence.
Chavez, who had once called for more political recognitionfor the Marxist-inspired FARC, last month urged rebelcommanders to release their hostages without conditions.
CONDITIONS FOR TALKS
The FARC has demanded that Uribe pull back troops from anarea the size of New York City to facilitate talks.
Uribe, whose father was killed in a botched FARC kidnappingyears ago, refuses to accept that condition. But he has offereda smaller safe haven under international observation in an areawhere there are no armed forces or armed groups.
The rescue weakens the FARC's position to negotiate astheir ranks are thinned by military setbacks and desertions.But they hold scores more hostages for political leverage.
The outlawed rebel army, once a 17,000-member force able toattack cities and kidnap almost at will, has been driven backinto remote areas and now has about 9,000 combatants. Theguerrillas have lost three major leaders this year.
Listed as a terrorist group by U.S. and European officials,the FARC has used the cocaine trade to fund its operations.
Michael Shifter, an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue,in Washington, said the rescue showed the FARC was in a seriousorganizational crisis.
"The Colombian government took advantage of the FARC'sweakness and disarray to carry out the mission," he said. "Itwas a big gamble, but it worked."
(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry and SudipKar-Guptain Paris; Patrick Markey; Adriana Garcia, TabassumZakaria and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by DoinaChiacu)
