Thursday, 3 July 2008

Betancourt released-Does this spell the end for FARC?

Good news this morning coming out of Columbia with the release of 14 hostages held by the Farc including Ingrid Betancourt after a daring operation by the Columbia military.

Ingrid had been held in the jungle for over 6 years and was being used as a bargaining tool of the left wing guerillas

"God, this is a miracle... There is no historical precedent for such a perfect operation," Betancourt told reporters as details emerged of the operation in which soldiers disguised as members of an NGO tricked the captives into putting their charges onto a helicopter to a meeting with rebel leader Alfonso Cano.

Along with Betancourt,three US contractors whose plane crashed in FARC territory in 2003 also were released.

Some commentators are saying that this is the end of the FARC campaign as Columbia's right wing president Alvaro Uribe, scores increasing successes against his oppononents with the help of American backing.Earlier this year it lost its chief spokesman Raul Reyes folowing a helicopter attack and another leader Ivan Rios, was killed by his own bodyguard,in what was widely believed to be a government operation.

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