ON A GOOD COUP IN COLOMBIA

BRAVO

The government of Colombia seems to have pulled off a story-book operation releasing 15 hostages, held by the FARC guerrilla group.  Some highlights in case you missed the story:

"Colombian commandos in disguise spirited 15 hostages to freedom on Wednesday, including Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian politician held for six years, and three American military contractors..."
"On Colombian television, Ms. Betancourt wept and smiled as she recounted a chain of events that seemed scripted for film, complete with Colombian agents infiltrating guerrilla camps and borrowing Israeli tracking technology to zero in on their target..."
"The rescue was a major victory in Colombia’s struggle with the FARC, a Marxist-inspired insurgency that has been trying to topple the Colombian government for more than four decades..."
"The United States was involved in the planning of the operation and provided “specific support,” the White House said. But officials there would not describe the nature of that support."

The story seems a model of international cooperation and coordination, complete with a yellow ribbon happy ending (more details on the operation here).  It likely will be a source of national pride for 43 million Colombians for years to come much as Entebbe was for Israel 32 years ago.  It'll also likely be a short-term photo-op bonanza of good-will PR for a host of politicians in all the countries involved.

These kinds of victories are rare for countries in general, and the whole world should celebrate whenever we get them.  Congratulations, Colombia.  Look forward to the movie.

Comments

[Jared]

The name of the country is spelled wrong, per the map you provided and the quote used.

[Michael]

Thanks Jared, spell-checker oversight...fixed.

[Dennis Chan]

Michael, before you get carried away with this. This could be an inside job. The reason is that Betancourt looks surprisingly healthy. Could it be the guerrilla knew they would release her in exchange for a princely ransom so they fed her relatively well to make her look good?