Ransom claim in Ingrid Betancourt release
Haroon Siddique and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Friday July 4, 2008
Article history

France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, kisses freed French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt on arrival at Villacoublay military airport in Paris. Betancourt and 14 others were rescued on Wednesday Photograph: Philippe Wojazer/REUTERS

Ingrid Betancourt arrived in France today after being held captive for six years in the Colombian jungle, amid claims that a ransom was paid to free her.

The Colombian government said that she was freed in an audacious operation after the military tricked Farc into handing the French-Colombian politician over without a shot being fired.

But quoting "reliable sources", Swiss Radio reported that a ransom was paid of around $20m (£10m).

It said that the US, which had three citizens among those freed, was behind the deal and that "the whole operation afterwards was a set-up".

The station reported that the wife of one of the hostages' guards was the go-between, having been arrested by the Colombian army.

If proved true, the allegations would be hugely embarrassing for the Colombian government which was showered with praise for the efficiency of the operation. Many commentators had predicted that it would even spell the end of Farc as a credible force.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/04/betancourt.france

Doesn´t anyone remember how recently these hostages were ALMOST released as a result of negotiations brokered by someone that Uribe and Bush did not want to receive credit, and how desperately those negotiations were sabotaged?

The "daring" rescue was timed perfectly. Uribe had just called for a referendum on his disputed 2006 re-election (as such, shortcircuiting the Supreme Court's call to review the election's legality), and McCain was visiting to push the free trade agreement. Colombia also recently shipped off paramilitaries to US custody, thus also removing them from questioning that would have implicated the Uribe administration in drug trafficking and paramilitary violence. The US is about to lose their base in Ecuador as well and wants one in Colombia.

And this also came after Colombia bombed Ecuador, sabotaging hostage negotiations that were already under way and bringing the region to the brink of war. Colombia needed a quick victory here, and they got it at the most opportune time. How much you wanna bet that these considerations above all factored into the rescue at the time? I'm sure they could have procurred the same results years ago, but left the situation to fester until they needed a victory the most.

Expertly manipulated really --- Bush may do the same thing by pulling Osama Bin Laden out of his bag when the Republicans appear headed to defeat.

Scott, it would not surprise me in the least, that it was a bought off situation
I am sure more will come out as time comes
glad they are freed, God Bless them
Ingrid, not the crop sprayers though, lackeys for Dynacorp and Halliburton
spraying others crops, not theirs though, anyone ask if the para's coca fields are beiong sprayed with Glucophospahte?
huh?

The first name I thought of when the "daring" rescue of Columbian hostages flashed on CNN was: Jessica Lynch. This seemed to have all the markers of a cash for hostages deal, with plenty of feel good propaganda value. It's good that these people were liberated, however it happened.

Bubbasouth, FWIW here's my comment from the news story also posted on CD:

When CD first published the report of Betancourt's being freed by a daring rescue mission, and this characterization was amplified in corporate news reports, my first thought was that this version of events was all too similar to the fictionalized accounts of Jessica Lynch's supposed "rescue" from the evil Iraqis.

But I decided not to comment about it for a change, because occasionally even I can use a break from finding dark linings to silver clouds.

But I knew it. I KNEW it!

Actually I feel a bit better about this thing, seeing info about a ransom paid and set up and such.

Originally what I saw was news that the Colombian army had 'tricked' the FARC by pretending to be aid workers of some sort. I was okay seeing the hostage Betancourt released, and maybe some of the others released were innocents, but it did bother me a bit that pretending to be aid workers could prove a danger to real aid workers...and to journalists.

(Wasn't Daniel Pearl accused of not being a real journalist?)

I posted this on another thread here at Common Dreams, which was also about this 'rescue'; but it seems worthwhile to post it to this one as well. My apologies to those who have already read it.

The one aspect of this story that bothered me the most, and about which I have seen no comments or discussion, is the fact that the rescuers (at least some of them) masqueraded as humanitarian aid workers. It would seem to me that this makes the tasks of real humanitarian aid groups and workers much more risky than normal, which is already dangerous enough, and could also diminish their ability to even enter and work in some areas.

There were many aspects of this 'rescue' that just did not seem reasonable, as others here have pointed out; but this is the one that I found most troubling.

Betencourt stated she still "aspires to be president" of Columbia. I don't think she's that pro America. Anyone know?

I agree, roncypert, that the issue of military and law enforcement agents assuming the guise of humanitarian aid workers is reprehensible.

I see it as part of the US hegemony's reprehensible shift to unchecked brutal disdain for human rights and humanitarian core principles vis-à-vis military action undertaken in the so-called Global War on Terror. In a nutshell, the US and its clients have bought into the self-righteous state terrorism developed by the Reich of Zion in its mission to annihilate the Palestinian people.

One aspect of this "No More Mister Nice Guy" approach is a vicious refusal to honor traditional humanitarian limits or boundaries (such as they are) long-established by consensus, and international law or treaty, e.g. the quaint Geneva Conventions.

I'm sure there have been exceptions and atrocities before this century, but nowadays warmongers feel no inhibition or compunction about abusing international aid agencies, and deliberately interfering with or contemptuously thwarting their mission. So, Red Cross and other aid agencies are summarily refused from making routine visits, inspections; personnel and vehicles are attacked with impunity in war zones, etc.

The war-criminals and their supporters, from neocon elitists like the depraved Kristols and Kagans to the orc-wingnuts who view the US as the Good Guys in an Armageddon with Islamofascism, proudly and self-righteously advocate stripping away every shred of common decency in the course of prosecuting their perpetual war-- a war ostensibly just, and necessary to preserve the unique and exceptional Amerikan Way of Life that exemplifies and exalts Common Decency.

These 110% Amerikan True Believers don't see a contradiction here at all; groupthink breeds doublethink, and cognitive dissonance purges and supplants conscience. Hooray for the red, white, and blue!

I immediately smelled a rat. Uribe, America and McCain would benefit from it, so I suspected exactly the kind of deal that's now being reported from the moment I heard the news.

I am very happy that Ingrid Betancourt is finally free, mind you!

But I don't like these "Wag the Dog"-like scripts.

Apart from that, but this is just a very minor point: I suspect that she's been free for a while already. She never had these pronounced shiny cheekbones before, and what a wrinkle-free face and all that black hair with no white streak after all the agony - so I guess that she did what wealthy Latin American women of a certain age routinely do: Before she presented herself to the public, she was worked over by a good surgeon. But that takes some time. And as an Italian newspaper remarked, she didn't have this "out of area" look which newly released hostages always have.

I don't mind, she has suffered so much, if she wanted that, fine - but I just think that the real story was a completely different one and that even the timeline presented is a lie.

I would suggest you guys check out this article by Al Giordano...The guy is good and it explains much about McCain's little trip South of the border. I've been an addict to his blog since I found him.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/so-thats-why-mccain-went-colombia

For some reason I can't get the link to work for the article. You can use your search engine with his name and the name of his blog
"The Field"...It's worth the effort.

I knew these pigs were up to something, I smelled a rat when I heard this story. McCain[McInsane]was conveniantly going on a trip to SA and Mexico, but they stated, "It was not campaign related". Then he's in Mexico and they say, "Although the South American trip was NOT campaign related his trip to Mexico is." WTF, is that supposed to mean except somethings afoot. Those "Contractors" appeared in wonderful health, don't you all agree?
I think I heard something about Betancourt being readmitted to hospital, perhaps I was only paying half attention, normal for myself...

Being close to Venezuela, maybe they think they can drill at an angle.

Thanks Laura Flanders and to the many good posts. Took Jessica Lynch right out of my mouth. The Bush Administration motto: We create our own reality(ask the Tillmans). And, special thanks to Kristina40 for the great article by Al Giordino.

"What's Colombia got that McCain and Bush want?"

To US elites, Columbia is an imperial wedge into Latin America, nothing more, nothing less.

Ladies and Gents, meet Ms. Flanders, alawys offering a Democratic apologetic.

Now read a true progressive point of view by Mr. Hedges:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/21/8420/

Of course Monkey Boy needs some favorable propaganda right now to make his brutal puppet government in Columbia look good. A more recent article explains it all - "US Military Looks to Colombia to Replace Base in Ecuador."

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3611

Gotta keep a close eye on those Venezuelan oil fields too!

mcclean is a true hero. he flies to colombia, the gem of the ocean, a place where rubies and emeralds grow, and gets those hostages freed!
but too early for another october surprise. whoopsies. and no one believes him anymore anyway.
i say google mcquack and the uss forestal to see what up wit dis fruitcake.
of course, they paid. it's only money they found in Iraq.
these guys were all born on third and thought they hit a triple.
gawd! i love 'Merica. she's not ugly...not to me....!
[and somebody tell me why we're spraying crack plantations in Colombia and letting Afghanistan produce 90% of the world's heroin again?]
i heard heroin is supposedly better for ya. well, if it ain't got paraquat or agent carnage on it....]
can we buy houses in Medellin? i'm looking for a 4 BR 2 bather with a view that won't go down in value...

rumiluv, you are most welcome. Al is one of the best political journalists out there, he is rarely wrong about anything. He's also a wizard at delegate projections. Between he and Poblano they've kept me sane through the primary...We are busy fighting to get his credentials back to blog the convention in August. I think he is going as a guest of Kos if he doesn't get his own back from the Rural votes site..

My gut feeling on this one is that it's definitely a propaganda coup for Uribe and the US, and yes, it may yet come back to bite them if folks find out what's really going down.

Following a call from Chavez for FARC to lay down their arms, the previous negotiations and what seems to be behind the scenes power plays that involve oil and serious concessions from the Columbian Govt to FARC demands.

Saving face for Colombian govt.

the hostage release, being a timed thing to impress and find favorability in the washington power structure, is just another boringly-long example of politico-media thespianism, and i've stopped paying attention to any news of intended awe-inspiring b.s. piped into my livingroom for decades.

nice that lives may be returned to normal, but that holds true for everyone, not just those who were incarcerated in a jungle for 6 long years.

i'm sick to freakin death of highlighting the happy ending to a tragedy where it regards only notable names and faces and leaves blank the pages of the common people's lives where struggle and conquest and suffering have thrived just as surely. it's so rare any of those stories get told, and far fewer than the famous or important figures governments would have us note, for days on end, through the likes of cnn and fox.

its timing and news were all a show for the sake of agenda - tripe!

Whoa, Al!

You may not be fully informed. Apparently the European media has been all over this story and found that the probable ramsom paid was about $20 Million courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer (AKA- The Bush Crime Family's "Saps of the Century Club").

The Trots digest the news and rumors here:

http://wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/colo-j07.shtml

Selected highlight from the article:

[COPY]
"...accounts circulating in Europe cast... doubt on the heroic tale told in Bogota.

Citing a source "close to the events," Swiss public radio reported that the hostages' freedom had been bought with a $20 million ransom, and that the "whole operation afterwards was a set-up." The political purpose of staging such a performance is clear. Both the Uribe government and the Bush administration have classified FARC as a "terrorist organization" and have insisted that they reject any negotiations with such groups.

According to the report from Switzerland—whose government had together with France and Spain been involved in the hostage negotiations—Washington played the leading role in organizing the deal.

The report added that the arrangement was made by using the captured wife of one of the guerrilla leaders as a go-between. According to this account, she was sent back to the FARC camp and persuaded him to change his allegiance for money.

In France, where Betancourt arrived Friday to a hero's welcome, Dominique Moisi, one of the country's top foreign policy experts, appeared to support this version of events. He told French state television that it was "probable" that money had secured the cooperation of FARC leaders. "They were bought in order to turn them around, like Mafia chiefs," he said.

Meanwhile, Mediaparte, the French news web site founded by the former chief editor of Le Monde and other journalists, reported that the rescue was "not an achievement of the Colombian military, but due to the surrender of a group of the FARC members" following "direct negotiations by the Colombian secret services with the guerrilla group that held Betancourt captive." Citing Colombian sources, it reported that Uribe had told a group last May that a surrender of those holding the hostages was being negotiated. Mediaparte added that the Sarkozy government agreed to offer the ex-guerrillas sanctuary in France after their surrender....

Another version, from sources close to the FARC leadership, charged that the Colombian government operation was staged as the FARC itself had reached an agreement with European negotiators and was preparing to release the hostages, either this weekend or next. The purpose of the intervention, according to this account, WAS TO TURN THE RELEASE INTO A PUBLIC RELATIONS COUP FOR THE GOVERNMENT, (Emphasis mine) rather than boosting the image of the FARC."

[END COPY]

***
Jessica Lynch came out and disparaged the lying sacks of scalded scrotums from the Pentagon PSYOPS shops. Will the aristocrat Ingrid Betancourt be so brave and honest? Somehow I doubt it. She looks like a "knows which side the bread is buttered on" kind of Vogue girl who realizes that no one in power today gives a damn about the truth.