Colombian spies tricked leftist rebels into handing over kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors Wednesday in a daring helicopter rescue so successful that not a single shot was fired.
Betancourt, who was seized on the campaign trail six long years ago, appeared thin but surprisingly healthy as she strode down the stairs of a military plane and held her mother in a long embrace. The Americans _ Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell _ also appeared well as they arrived in Texas, to undergo tests and reunite with their families at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
"God, this is a miracle," Betancourt said. "Such a perfect operation is unprecedented."
Eleven Colombian police and soldiers also were freed in the most serious blow ever dealt to the 44-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which considered the four hostages their most valuable bargaining chips. The FARC is already reeling from the deaths of key commanders and the loss of much of the territory it once held.
Nowhere in the world have American hostages currently in captivity been held longer, according to the U.S. Embassy in Bogota.
Defense Minister Juan Manuel 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, to discuss a possible hostage swap.
The hostages, who had been divided in three groups, were taken to a rendezvous with two disguised MI-17 helicopters piloted by Colombian military agents _ one on the ground, the other hovering above. The choppers were painted white, without insignias.
Betancourt said her hands and feet were bound, which she called "humiliating."
At first she thought the pilots _ a crew of four with nine "assistants" dressed in white _ were from a relief organization. Then she saw their Che Guevara shirts and assumed they were rebels.
Only when they were airborne did she notice that Cesar, who had treated her so cruelly for so many years, was naked and blindfolded on the floor.
"The chief of the operation said, `We're the national army. You're free,'" she said. "The helicopter almost fell from the sky because we were jumping up and down, yelling, crying, hugging one another. We couldn't believe it."
The operation, Santos said, "will go into history for its audacity and effectiveness."
"We wanted to have it happen as it did today," added armed forces chief Gen. Freddy Padilla. "Without a single shot. Without anyone wounded. Absolutely safe and sound, without a scratch."
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe later led a celebratory news conference where he said his government isn't interested in "spilling blood" and wants the FARC to understand that he seeks "a path to peace, total peace.
Although officials said everyone directly involved in the rescue were Colombians, U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said there was "close cooperation" from the Americans that included "exchange of intelligence" as well as "exchange of equipment, training advice and experiences of other operations. I will not enter into details."
Santos said Cesar and another rebel who boarded the chopper were overpowered after being persuaded to hand over their pistols. Both will face justice, while 58 others were allowed to escape into the jungle in hopes that they will free an estimated 700 remaining hostages, he said.
"If I had given the order to fire on them they would almost certainly all have been killed," Padilla said.
Another 39 helicopters were prepared to encircle the rebels and hostages if the rescue failed, Santos said.
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. Some of the others had been held for a dozen years.
The French-Colombian Betancourt wore a floppy camouflage hat as she hugged her mother, Yolanda Pulecio, and her husband, Juan Carlos LeCompte. She later removed her hat to reveal braided dark hair, with plaits framing her face and a white flower in back, and broke into tears as she appealed to the FARC to release the remaining hostages and make peace.
Throughout her first day of freedom, she thanked Uribe, against whom she was running when she was kidnapped, and said he "has been a very good president."
However, she said, "I continue to aspire to serve Colombia as president."
For now, she added, "I'm just one more soldier."
Before her children and sister left Paris to join her, her son Lorenzo Delloye-Betancourt called her release "the most beautiful news of my life."
Brownfield said two of the Americans suffered from the jungle malady leishmaniasis and were "looking forward to modern medical treatment."
Gonsalves' father George got the news while mowing his yard in Hebron, Connecticut: "I didn't know how to stop my lawnmower. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it."
In Miami, Stansell's stepmother Lynne said "we're still teary-eyed and do not quite have our wits about us."
And in Massachusetts, Howes' niece Amanda Howes said the rescue "redefines the word miracle."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, U.S. President George W. Bush and both U.S. presidential candidates congratulated Uribe, who said the time has come for peace negotiations with the rebel movement.
Many Colombians believe the FARC is nearing the end of its four-decade fight. Battlefield losses and widespread desertions have cut rebel numbers in half to about 9,000 as the United States has poured billions of dollars in military aid into Colombia.
In March, historic leader Manuel Marulanda died of a reported heart attack, and two other top commanders were killed. The rest are hunkered down in remote jungle and mountain hideouts, unable to communicate effectively, their income from ransom kidnappings and the cocaine trade depleted by intense military operations.
Santos said Colombia had infiltrated the rebels' seven-man ruling secretariat, but did not elaborate. Padilla said FARC turncoats also helped and would be rewarded with "their liberty."
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Associated Press writers Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Beth Fouhy with the McCain campaign and Stephen Singer in Hebron, Connecticut contributed to this report.
