"We are the Army of Colombia, you are free"

Telegraph:

...

"We have infiltrated the Secretariat (Farc's ruling seven-man body) and military intelligence gave us the location of the hostages," said Gen Padilla as he pointed on a map to the remote area of Tomachipan in Guaviare, where the hostages were found.

It emerged that commandoes had managed to trick the rebels into handing over the hostages.

A government agent managed to infiltrate the rebel group, apparently earning their trust, paving the way for the rescue.

Undercover Colombian commandoes flew to the jungle camp in a civilian helicopter, claiming to be from a fictitious non-government organisation.

They claimed they had orders to fly the hostages by helicopter to a camp to meet with rebel leader Alfonso Cano.

"The helicopters, which in reality were from the army, picked up the hostages in Guaviare and flew them to freedom," Juan Manuel Santos, the defence minister, said.

Two guerrillas were captured and the hostages were flown to a military base.

"This was an unprecedented operation," he said. "It will go down in history for its audaciousness and effectiveness."

“The operation was absolutely impeccable," Ms Betancourt told Colombian radio just hours after she was freed, as she described the ruse played by Colombian soldiers on the FARC rebels.

"They spoke and dressed like the guerrillas," she said, adding the operation began at dawn, when the hostages were told they were being transferred.

Some of the elite Colombian soldiers who took part in the operation had disguised themselves as rebels, even wearing T-shirts bearing the picture of legendary reolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, she said.

The hostages only realised that they were being rescued when they were in the air and one of the soldiers pretending to be a guerrilla shouted out: "We are the Army of Colombia, you are free."

...

The Colombian government will use this victory to show that the Farc is on its last legs and that after 44 years of fighting one of the world's most powerful and richest insurgencies, is beaten. Not everyone agrees.

"This war is not over by a long chalk," said a Western diplomatic source. "The Farc are still flush with drugs money and have a hard core of dedicated and experience fighters. A leaner meaner Farc of just 5000 fighters could still destabilise this country."

Mr Santos last night vowed to keep fighting Farc.

"We will continue working for the liberation of the remaining hostages," he said. "We are making an appeal to the leaders of the Farc not to kill them, to liberate the remaining hostages and to not sacrifice their own men."

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There is much more. It cannot be denied that FARC is on a real losing streak that has to demoralize its forces. Whether this will be a tipping point is hard to say at this point. FARC representatives have not made themselves available for press briefings which is another indicator of their weakness.

It must have been an emotional moment for the hostages to hear the commando say "you are free." John McCain was lucky enough to be in Colombia for the celebration. This has to contrast with Democrats who have been promising FARC better treatment if Obama was elected.