BOGOTA, Colombia - Ingrid Betancourt sat handcuffed in a helicopter with 14 other hostages, angry and frustrated at what she thought was just another maneuver by her rebel captors.
Then, she noticed something odd:
"Suddenly, I saw the commander, who for so many years . . . was so cruel, so humiliating, so despotic, I saw him on the floor, naked, blindfolded," she recalled Wednesday. "The chief of the operation said, 'We're the national army. You're free.' "
Colombian spies had tricked leftist rebels into handing over the kidnapped former presidential candidate and three U.S. military contractors Wednesday in a daring helicopter rescue so successful that not a single shot was fired.
"The helicopter almost fell from the sky because we were jumping up and down, yelling, crying, hugging one another," Betancourt said. "We couldn't believe it."
Eleven Colombian police and soldiers were also freed in the rescue, the most serious blow ever dealt to the 44-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which considered Betancourt and the Americans their most valuable bargaining chips. The operation "will go into history for its audacity and effectiveness," said Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos.
Santos said military-intelligence agents infiltrated the guerrilla ranks and led the local commander in charge of the hostages, alias Cesar, to believe they were going to take them to Alfonso Cano, the guerrillas' supreme leader.
The hostages, who had been divided in three groups, were taken to a rendezvous where Colombian military agents were waiting in two white helicopters. Betancourt said her hands and feet were bound, which she called "humiliating," and when she saw the crews wearing Che Guevara shirts, she became disgusted, thinking they were "going to make us clowns in another new circus."
The element of surprise was essential, said armed-forces chief Gen. Freddy Padilla.
"We wanted to have it happen as it did today," Padilla said. "Without a single shot. Without anyone wounded. Absolutely safe and sound, without a scratch."
Santos said Cesar and another rebel on board would face justice. The other rebel captors retreated into the jungle, Santos said, and the army let them escape "in hopes that they will free the rest of the hostages," believed to number about 700.
At a Bogota ceremony with top military commanders, the freed hostages walked up to a microphone one by one, identified themselves by name and rank, and thanked their rescuers.
President Bush called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to congratulate him, as did French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
U.S. presidential candidate John McCain said Uribe had told him in advance of the rescue plans while he was campaigning in Colombia.
"It's a very high-risk operation," McCain said. "I congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of Colombia."
McCain's rival, Barack Obama, issued a statement congratulating Uribe as well.
Betancourt, 46, was abducted in February 2002. The Americans were captured a year later when their drug-surveillance plane went down in rebel-held jungle.
Then, she noticed something odd:
"Suddenly, I saw the commander, who for so many years . . . was so cruel, so humiliating, so despotic, I saw him on the floor, naked, blindfolded," she recalled Wednesday. "The chief of the operation said, 'We're the national army. You're free.' "
Colombian spies had tricked leftist rebels into handing over the kidnapped former presidential candidate and three U.S. military contractors Wednesday in a daring helicopter rescue so successful that not a single shot was fired.
"The helicopter almost fell from the sky because we were jumping up and down, yelling, crying, hugging one another," Betancourt said. "We couldn't believe it."
Eleven Colombian police and soldiers were also freed in the rescue, the most serious blow ever dealt to the 44-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which considered Betancourt and the Americans their most valuable bargaining chips. The operation "will go into history for its audacity and effectiveness," said Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos.
Santos said military-intelligence agents infiltrated the guerrilla ranks and led the local commander in charge of the hostages, alias Cesar, to believe they were going to take them to Alfonso Cano, the guerrillas' supreme leader.
The hostages, who had been divided in three groups, were taken to a rendezvous where Colombian military agents were waiting in two white helicopters. Betancourt said her hands and feet were bound, which she called "humiliating," and when she saw the crews wearing Che Guevara shirts, she became disgusted, thinking they were "going to make us clowns in another new circus."
The element of surprise was essential, said armed-forces chief Gen. Freddy Padilla.
"We wanted to have it happen as it did today," Padilla said. "Without a single shot. Without anyone wounded. Absolutely safe and sound, without a scratch."
Santos said Cesar and another rebel on board would face justice. The other rebel captors retreated into the jungle, Santos said, and the army let them escape "in hopes that they will free the rest of the hostages," believed to number about 700.
At a Bogota ceremony with top military commanders, the freed hostages walked up to a microphone one by one, identified themselves by name and rank, and thanked their rescuers.
President Bush called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to congratulate him, as did French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
U.S. presidential candidate John McCain said Uribe had told him in advance of the rescue plans while he was campaigning in Colombia.
"It's a very high-risk operation," McCain said. "I congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of Colombia."
McCain's rival, Barack Obama, issued a statement congratulating Uribe as well.
Betancourt, 46, was abducted in February 2002. The Americans were captured a year later when their drug-surveillance plane went down in rebel-held jungle.
