Yes, as I stated, I am jaded. I don’t believe the smoke and mirror show. There are always different who, whys and wheres than we are ever told. Anyway– follow the yellow brick road if you will for a minute.
First there is the official… not-so-detailed reports…
Juan ForeroWashington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A01
Colombia’s military yesterday rescued the most prominent of several hundred hostages held by Marxist rebels, a group of 15 that included the French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American Defense Department contractors who had been imprisoned in remote jungle camps since 2003.
In what Colombian officials called an elaborate ruse, commandos deceived a rebel unit entrusted with the prized hostages into turning them over in a grassy field deep in southeastern Guaviare province. The prisoners, who included 11 Colombian soldiers, were then flown to freedom in what amounted to a powerful blow to a fast-waning insurgency.
By late afternoon, the hostages were transported to the main military air base in Bogota, the Colombian capital, where they were reunited with relatives as a military band played the national anthem.
Betancourt, wearing a floppy jungle hat, the kind of flimsy rubber boots worn by guerrillas, and a white flower in her braided hair, stepped off a plane and into the waiting arms of her mother, Yolanda Pulecio. She then addressed well-wishers in comments carried on national television, praising Colombia’s military for “an impeccable operation.”
“God, this is a miracle. Such a perfect operation is unprecedented,” said Betancourt, 46, an author and former presidential candidate taken prisoner by rebels in 2002.
Betancourt and the Americans — who were believed to have been held longer than any other U.S. citizens currently in captivity in the world — were among the hostages that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, hoped to trade for hundreds of their imprisoned comrades. Using Colombia’s vast and rugged terrain to its advantage, the FARC has for years taken its prisoners deep into the jungle and threatened to kill them if the military attempted a rescue.
Shortly after midnight this morning, the Americans arrived in San Antonio aboard a U.S. military plane. Keith Stansell, Thomas Howes and Marc Gonsalves — employees of Northrop Grumman Corp. — were to undergo medical exams at the Brooke Army Medical Center and be reunited with their families. The FARC took them hostage after their surveillance plane crashed in rebel territory.
George Gonsalves, father of Marc Gonsalves, said he had been on the front lawn of his home in Connecticut when his next-door neighbor came rushing out of her kitchen door, waving her arms to tell her about the news she had just seen on television.
“We went dashing back to the house, and there it was on CNN,” he said. “It’s just wonderful, just wonderful.”
A breathless Lynne Stansell, Keith Stansell’s mother, said by phone that her family was overwhelmed by the early reports.
“Some people are coming to help us handle this,” she said, when reached by phone at her Florida home. “We can’t really react right now. It’s just all too emotional.”
The news was also greeted with relief and amazement in France, where President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had campaigned vigorously for Betancourt’s release, declared the “end of an ordeal that lasted for more than six years.” Halfway around the world, in the Colombian city of Medellin, television coverage was nonstop.
Then there are the talking heads that speak with a voice of authority. [geeeeeeece]
The transcript follows.
Peter DeShazo:Good morning. My name is Peter DeShazo. I’m Director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. I look forward to answering your questions.
Washington:Can this operation serve as an example validating the years of American training and aid to Colombia’s government and miitary? Does this event show a maturity and sophistication by Colombia’s military and political leaders not seen before?
Peter DeShazo:
The United States has provided Colombia with more than $6 billion in assistance since the late 1990s, a considerable part of which has strengthened Colombia’s abilities to combat drug trafficking and improved the capabilities of the armed forces and police. The professionalism of this operation reflects some of those improvements. Over all, U.S. support for Colombia constitutes a success story. But the success of the operation is owed to the capabilities of the Colombians themselves.
Silver Spring, Md.:Mr. DeShazo, was this release timed to coincide with Sen. McCain’s visit to Colombia?
Peter DeShazo:
This appears to have been an operation that the Colombian authorities had planned for some time, but its execution would probably depend on a confluence of factors beyond the control of the Colombian government. I therefore don’t see the timing of the event as being related to Senator McCain’s visit.
Omaha, Neb.:Thanks for taking my question. Why is the FARC in decline? Can we and other national governments learn anything from the FARC’s decline that we can apply to other militias or cartels? I’m thinking specifically of Mexico.
Peter DeShazo:
The FARC is in decline because it has nothing to offer the Colombian people. Support for the FARC within Colombia was always low, but it is now almost non-existant. The FARC finances its operations through kidnapping, extortion and drug production and trafficking, which further undercuts any ideological appeal they might have once had. Their military power has been greatly reduced since the Colombian government rebuilt the capabilities of the armed forces and police and began to establish legitimate state authority over many more parts of the country. With its support base low, its ability to maneuver limited, its finances disrupted, its popular support almost nil and its military power sapped, the FARC is now entirely on the defensive. The lesson is that it is essential for legitimate state authority to prevail and that means further strenghtening not just of security but also improvements in the rule of law and in providing other government services.
Santiago, Chile:Though the most high-profile hostages were released, what are the odds that the rest of the FARC hostages will be retrieved in a timely manner?
Peter DeShazo:
The FARC still has more than 700 hostages under its control. Many of these were taken for economic purposes — for ransom. Others are considered “political” hostages. The FARC will continue to try to use them to bargain for the release of their members held by the Colombian government or for other negotiating purposes. One can only hope that some sort of mechanism for hostage release can be arrived at, but the release of all hostages will probably only come as part of a larger peace process that will result in the FARC abandoning the armed struggle.
Arlington, Va.:So where does this leave Hugo Chavez? If I am not mistaken, for some time now he has been trying to give the impression that FARC would release its prisoners as soon as he said the word.
Peter DeShazo:
President Chavez had attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate a hostage release. The FARC holds him in high esteem but in the end was unable or unwilling to respond to his efforts. Now the FARC has lost its most important political hostages — captives they were holding as their most valuable bargaining tool with the Colombian government.
Bogota, Colombia:Last night the president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, spoke about the military operation, the situation of the three American contractors, and it seemed that he was proud about it. That’s okay, but my question is, can this situation be a tool to get the “free trade” agreement between Colombia and the U.S.? Thanks.
Peter DeShazo:
Colombia’s stronger economic situation is an important component of its recovery across the board from the very unstable point the country was in the late 1990s. The free trade agreement would further consolidate these economic improvements. It would also be a positive factor for the U.S. as well — mutually beneficial. The free trade agreement — if it were approved — would provide an important underpinning for sustaining the security gains in Colombia as well — and symbolize U.S. - Colombian friendship. Those are important arguments in favor of approval of the trade agreement.
Arlington, Va.:I know that no organizations or entities are monolithic, but as you are an expert on the region I would like to know just how unified FARC is. Is this a coherent political actor, or more like an umbrella grouping united only by hostility to the Colombian government?
Peter DeShazo:The FARC is increasingly demonstrating its lack of coherence and operational capability. While its new top leader, Alfonso Cano is an old-line Marxist of the 1960s, revolutionary ideology has become more of a veneer than a norm for rank-and-file. The FARC is organized by fronts spread over a wide geographic area. Their command and control has been broadly disrupted by Colombian intelligence and therefore coordination of FARC activities is more difficult. The successful rescue of the hostages yesterday is evidence of the FARC’s coordination weaknesses. It is very weak politically, with almost no urban base of support. The FARC is increasingly fragmented across the board.
Washington:How will these events affect the current internal political situation of Colombia, where there is a direct confrontation between the president and the supreme court? Has this granted a new re-election for Uribe?
Peter DeShazo:
President Uribe’s popularity was over 80 percent positive before the hostage rescue and so it will go higher still — despite the recent confrontation between him and the supreme court. Even though his popularity ratings are extraordinarily high for a president in his sixth year in office, that does translate into a third term for Uribe. He would have to amend the constitution once more to achieve this and has not indicated that he seeks a third term.
Rockville, Md.: I apologize for the unusual nature of this question, but I saw a very weird-looking animal on TV last night (resembling a long/narrow-snouted racoon) on the shoulder and back of one of the rescued persons. I wonder if you saw the TV footage and could identify what animal that might have been. Thank you very much. Peter DeShazo:Looked like a coati Peter DeShazo:Many thanks for your questions. Regards,
Then there is the always the BIG…” Whoops there it is!!” somewhere on the back pages of the papers!
Free at Last
Colombia’s dramatic hostage rescue strengthens the case for a trade agreement
Washington Post
“
U.S. officials were quick to play down American help in this particular rescue. But there is no question that the deft Colombian military that we have just seen in action is far superior to the brutal, incompetent force of a decade ago. The transformation, in large part, was fostered by substantial U.S. aid, delivered first by President Bill Clinton and sustained by the Bush administration — with appropriate human-rights strings attached. The success of this long-term commitment debunks the pessimistic conventional wisdom in Washington about the utility of military assistance to Colombia or other Latin American nations. That is all the more reason for Congress to carry out a liberation of its own. For months, the U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement and the benefits it would bring to a host of American industries have been held hostage to politics — specifically, to the Democratic Party’s need to mollify the labor unions that fund it. The Democrats’ only argument against the pact is that the Uribe administration has not done enough to prevent and punish the murders of Colombian trade unionists. But in view of the determination and competence the Colombian government has just demonstrated, Mr. Uribe’s promises to satisfy legitimate concerns deserve the benefit of the doubt. Already, his policies have dramatically reduced overall violence and murder, including the killing of trade unionists“. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has blocked a vote on the trade pact, citing supposed White House violations of standard legislative procedure. Those concerns, never very convincing, seem petty, indeed, in light of Colombia’s latest achievement. It’s time to set free trade free.”
