Colombia infiltrated FARC to pull off rescue

CNN:

In a secret operation a U.S. official called "brilliant," the Colombian military infiltrated rebel group FARC and deceived its members into giving up 15 hostages including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, Colombia's defense ministry said.

Betancourt, who was reportedly in deteriorating health, was kidnapped in 2002 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Along with Betancourt, three American contractors and 11 other hostages who were Colombian police were rescued in Wednesday's operation.

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said the Colombian military had infiltrated the FARC leadership and arranged for the hostages to be taken to the south of the country, where they were to be picked up by helicopters that the rebels believed were controlled by another group.

The Colombian military helicopters flew the 15 away without violence. They were initially transported to a military air base southwest of Bogota, from which they were to travel later Wednesday to the capital, a military spokesman said.

Santos called the operation unprecedented and said it "will go into history for its audacity and effectiveness," according to The Associated Press.

The AP also reported that Betancourt said the "absolutely impeccable" military mission took her by surprise and "got us out grandly." She and the other hostages didn't know that military intelligence agents were flying the helicopters that the hostages thought were taking them to another rebel camp, the AP said.

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President Bush congratulated Colombian President Alvaro Uribe by phone. Uribe is slated to address the nation at 10 p.m. ET.

A senior State Department official said the United States played no role in the operation, though it was briefed on it ahead of time. The official called the operation "brilliant" and "a huge success," saying it involved a deception operation against the FARC.

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Congratulations to Colombia. Not only was this a pretty neat operation it also contributes to the perception of FARC as a deteriorating organization. The ruse appears to involve using infiltrators to convince FARC that one of their helicopters would be picking up the hostages. I speculate that the recent defectors and the information gleaned from the laptop compters made this operation more praticle. At some point they were able to figure out how Colombia moved the hostages around.

I wonder if Hugo Chavez will be congratulating President Uribe?

Time has background on the hostages and some details on the rescue.