It's sho-biz, but at least she's in more public hands and we can now hope she will be flown out of the country for medical treatment, so it's only partially ca-ca.

Thanks, menos_poblacion at 3:47 am. The resemblance between the names was bothering me a lot!

menos_poblacion: is it is true that the three United States Citizens were in colombia spraying pesticides aginst drugs, well in that case is "violotion in a foreign land" and in that case that will be great and wonderfull to have proofs about this. The United States governments unfortunately hey have violate many countries around the history, but, I willl say sometihing the US governments should be more compromise with their own people to do campaings against drugs but really "strong campains" and in that case our countriies will be save. Many money are ":compromise"............ is a big business........ and our countries are the ones who suffering and strungling ..........

Dear brevity: No There is no relation between the former president Belisario Betancur when the Justice Palace was taken by other Left fighters M19. any questions about your question go back whom is Ingrid Betacourt. . What is clear, is any coincidence that this release was taken when the senator Mc. Cain was visiting Colombia? so in this case who was the winner? as the Minister of Jutsice Juan Manuel Santos said:" this was a Colombian rescue". not an international rescue. " Viva our "colombian" troops" those are really "heroes " of war. Not as the senator with all my respects, Jhon Mc. Cain.

I can't say I know a whole lot about the FARC. I don't think they are in the same league as Sendero Luminoso though, nor Mao.

I have a lot of struggles with this.. I want to support the FARC, because I believe in some of their causes, but they do take hostages. Plus, theories aren't always true in practise. I'm sceptical to believe anything worse I do hear because it often comes from center-right sources. It's hard to determine much when there seems to be a polarization of my sources - not all, certainly - glorifying FARC or condemning it.

If you know anything or have some links to articles, that would be great.

That is REALLY intriguing about McCain.

The next "co-incidence" for McBush will be a visit to Afghanistan in the Fall "just in time" to witness the "capture" of Osama Bin Hidden.

"Freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt embraces children" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080703/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombia_hostages

"A flight carrying the Americans — Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell — landed in Texas late Wednesday after being flown there directly. They were to reunite with their families and undergo tests and treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said the Americans were healthy and "very, very happy" but two suffered from the jungle malady leishmaniasis and were "looking forward to modern medical treatment."

I dunno. How do you spell DEA/NSA/CIA? And for my money leishmaniasis couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys. Google it.

Beyond that, here's what I know. NOTHING. In cases like this or much like any of our assorted and various domestic extra-legal executions, we get told NOTHING of a factual nature. Especially just after the events involved. LATER, often much later does someone report on the actual facts. The attempted Chavez coup was the exception. They got it all on tape as it was happening.

All the 'background' stories could be and probably are pure Fairy Tale, like the New Testament, constructed to appeal to specific 'constituencies'. Always a couple of actual facts thrown in as yeast. SOP.

Peace.

Ironically, may it be true that Ms. Bentancourt's worldwide fame from her capivity at the hands of FARC is what will protect her from the gangsters who may have otherwise killed her for her politics?

I am happy that these hostages are freed, and I no longer believe FARC or FARC-EP has anything to contribute to the Colombian worker and Colombia's rural poor.

But who does?

With all this coverage of FARC's activities. Does anyone know that killings of union organizers and activist leaders continue unabated, and many more others are forced to abandon their work and even flee the country to avoid being murdered. Most recently, four organizers and three union organizers were murdered for organizing a large, peaceful protest march in Bogota against the earlier massacre in Ecuador. Hundreds of others were threatened with death and forced into hiding.

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20080406112910193

You wil read nothing about this in the US and Colombian press. The hypocracy is breathtaking. The courage of the Colombians who continue to organize and agitaite in the face of their own certain death at the hands of these vile thugs is a story that should be on front pages around the world!

Little is being done by the police to find the murderers, they pretty much kill with impunity.

So, FARC may not have a future, but can someone explain why they are so bad compared to the gangster-thugs on the pay of the capitalist bosses?

My guess is that sometime down the road we'll learn that this was a negotiated deal with possibly some FARC members being held by the Colombian government being released in exchange. It was timed for the trade talks and McCain's visit and made to look like some great heroic feat by the Colombian government

brevity, there is no relation between Ingrid and Belisario Betancur, el presidente de Colombia during the mid 80's. The names are pronounced about the same, but Betancourt is a French name, since Ingrid has a dual French/Colombian citizenship.

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belisario_Betancur

I watched the coverage of Betancourt's rescue on Univision tonite, and almost the entire news program (Las Noticias) was devoted to the rescue. Quite a huge drama for Colombia.

I wouldn't call the 3 American contractors "innocent", if they were spraying pesticides on coca. As someone mentioned above, they were conducting military operations on foreign soil.

Ingrid, on the other hand, I have more respect for than almost anyone in "el mundo". She was campaigning harder than just about anybody to get rid of corruption in Colombia, something very ingrained in that country. If she could spare a little time, she could come up to the U.S. and help get rid of corporate lobbyists in D.C., especially those representing the oil industry.

"but let us hope that the salvation for such people will come from decent sources and not from Castro, Chavez, or Mao inspired thugs."

Chavez has tolerated (in ways this country never would, an you know it) the funding of the opposition from a foreign power, with the most powerful military and one of the most powerful economies of the world, who happens to attack and oppose the government while respecting the democratic rights of the opposition. This even AFTER they supported (with the help of the media) and took part in the removal of a democratically elected and widely supported government, dissolved all the branches of the government, suspended the constitution and let go of the head of the central bank, setting up a military dictatorship. Those who took part in the un-democratic coup went on NATIONAL TV and bragged about it, thanking the press, RCTV in particular. How much have these people been punished? RCTV? Their punishment, compared to what this country would do to a network who acted the same way with the support of an attacking country, was that they had to go off of regular TV and go to cable. They are supposed to have good soap operas though, so some are really annoyed. Otherwise, his response has been beyond tempered. He also accepted defeat in the referendum (see, in Venezuela people get to vote and have a direct say on laws and officials, they don't have no direct power and have to beg their politicians to listen to them like here, these referendums only in place because of the constitution created by the Chavez government and approved by an overwhelming majority of the country), what a dictator.

Compare that to the "moderate" "ally" of the US, Uribe in Colombia. Compare the US press' coverage of his actions vs. Chavez. The only thugs are in our government, the authoritarian right in Venezuela and those who make excuses for their actions, whether they're from the left or right.

You can't attack a country, militarily, politically and economically, and then use every response to those attacks as signs of dictatorship.

Is Ingrid Betancourt any relation to the former Colombian president Betancur who was president when the Palace of Justice burned?

I'm surprised they didn't have McCain in his flight suit, arms around the hostages, walking out of the forest.

Cedar July 2nd, 2008 4:40 pm
What a coincidence - just as John McCain was visiting. Almost like it was staged for political purposes...

You bet your LIFE it was staged! As soon as I heard his visit mentioned during the news report I thought that. Remember how the Repubs. staged the Iranian hostage release the same DAY Reagan took the oath?! I'm convinced they could've gotten it done well before now, but waited for this occasion.

Kind of a miracle that McCain was there for the release and wonder what Bush and Cheney had to do with this development. So McCain will again be applauded as a "hero" and Bush will get Columbia on the Nafta band wagon. McCain is just a Senator, not an ambassador, but he runs off to Iraq and Columbia instead of taking time to sign legislation? Dirty politics is afoot.

For what it's worth..the "Contractors" I believe are CIA or some NGO and are featured in a Documentary with some amazing footage...they are..VERY military in the Doc. and treated SO WELL that it is...if ANYTHING..a testament..nay..actual PROOF..of the REGARD for human life and the rules of war that the FARC actually has...because these guy's were free to not only DO this filming..but also free to talk, free to look at photo's etc..they were all in GREAT HEALTH...and had NOT BEEN TORTURED OR COERCED OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT..can the same be said of ANY form of the US governments "Prisoners"...

These men were ACTUAL "enemy combatants" of a foriegn nation commiting military actions on foriegn soil..they crashed..were captured..and have been held prisoner ever since...

as opposed to:
being a taxi cab driver..and being held for seven years and tortured for FUN by Sociopthas on the federal loyalist payroll..aka the tax payer's war..YOUR WAR..by the way..hey..you get what you pay for..

Anyway..the Doc. shows up fairly regularly on IFC and places like that..ALSO..these guy's were from TEXAS..and are BUSH SUPPORTERS IN THE EXTREME!...which is also..GOOD TIMING..

Welcome Home Boy's...DON'T LIE ABOUT WHAT YOU EXPERIENCED..IT WAS NOT GUANTANIMO..IT WAS NOT "RENDITION" IT WAS A CAKE WALK COMPARED TO THAT..SO...DN'T LIE ABOUT IT..YOU WERE TREATED FAR BETTER THAN YOUR GOVERNMENT TREATS OTHERS..PERIOD!

integrity,

Where are you reading this stuff about Castro and Chavez.

Pleas stop reading the corporate media.

Are you implying that Chavez isn't in office by eminently democratic means?

I love this community of readership that questions coincidence and "serendipity." Critical thinking, and the ability to question authority, are in dramatically short supply.

Bravo, all! Maybe we'll overcome the corporate government institutions, yet!

www.whatsinthatkoolaid.blogspot.com

Equating Castro and Chavez with Mao-inspired thugs? Those two aren't angels, but they've defied the thuggery of the U.S. of A. They were influence by important Latin American Marxists such as Jose Mariategui and Julio Antonio Mella. It's very convenient for yankee liberals to demonize the Latin American leaders of the left without understanding Latin American history.

Btw, editors at CD, the country is spelled Colombia. Two o's, no u's.

Integrity and Wolf, I also applaud the release of Betancourt, of course. If the Colombian military pulled it off, as reported, then it's one of the few things they have done right. I'd encourage you to study the situation in that country, and not just through the lens of the MSM. You'll discover that there is good reason why many in Colombia refer to the U.S. policy called Plan Colombia--supposedly designed to curtail drug production and trafficking, under Bill Clinton--as Un Plan de Muerte, a Plan of Death. Far more union members die in Colombia than throughout the rest of the world put together, and human rights workers are under siege. Uribe is a smarter, smoother version of his backer George Bush, and he cares about as much for respecting human rights in Colombia as Bush does in Iraq: Not at all.

All that said: Yay for Ingrid Betancourt and her family.

Viva Betancort, Viva Columbia!!! lf the FARC wants to be the voice of the people, free the kidnapped and join the political dialouge. BETANCORT PARA PRESIDENTE!!!!

integrity July 2nd, 2008 8:26 pm

Bravo, I could not agree with your post any more than if I had said it myself.
Even if you are a liberal and progressive (I am not, I am an agnostic realist) I don't care, I still applaud your post.

Again, even if I am liberal and progressive, I can have my heart at the right place, too.

It is correct to sympathize with the poor and oppressed in Colombia or elsewhere, but let us hope that the salvation for such people will come from decent sources and not from Castro, Chavez, or Mao inspired thugs.

We want to live in secure circumstances, why do we deny it to people who were born in drug producing Columbia?

Woof. Wag the dog.

What convenient timing! Isn't Bush trying desperately to get Congress to pass a "FREE TRADE" agreement with Columbia?

"They forced the rebels to persuade their comrades to turn over the captives, without any loss of life." There's something very fishy here. How exactly do you "force" someone to "persuade" someone? How much you want to bet that this release was due to the efforts of Chavez, rather than any "dramatic rescue operation" by Colombian commandos? 

You are right, Cedar. There is no question it was not a coincidence that McCain was visiting Colombia on the very same day these hostages were freed. It's Reagan show biz tactics all over again.

The American contractors in this case could be of the sort that the Colombian government hires to fly and spray herbicides over the peasants who have resorted to cultivating coca in order to survive (i.e., part of the American contigent in the US-Colombia "War on Drugs").

What a coincidence - just as John McCain was visiting. Almost like it was staged for political purposes...

I am glad to hear about Ms. Betancourt's release. Although until she is free of the Colombian military, I am not sure if freed is yet the operative word.

I do have to wonder just who these "American military contractors" are and what they were doing in Colombia, not to mention what they'll be up to next.

Ms. Betancourt is a leader of the Green Party of Colombia and was a Presidential candidate when kidnapped.