BN: Ingrid Betancourt freed - The Orange Room

Rors

It has been just reported on CNN, the franco-Colombian ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt has been freed along with 14 other hostages that were being held by the FARC in the colombian jungles. Betancourt was abducted on the 22nd of February 2002. Many attempts, negotiations, and even interventions by the french presidents Chirac and Sarkosy to rescue her have failed over the past 6 years.

Great news to her family, husband, and 2 children.

Youchka

Indeed it is great news. TF1 had a special program for the happy event. President Sarkozy made a speech as well as Betancourt's daughter, son and sister, very moving speeches and moving moments.

suomynona

What an amazing story really. She was several times extremely sick according to reports and yet she made it.

†.)

YouTube - Ingrid betancourt ( enfin libre...!)

Lebanese_dream

Ingrid Betancourt will arrive to France tomorrow at 4 pm (Paris local time).
She will be welcomed by Nicolas Sarkozy.

Betancourt en France demain à 16h
Source : AFP
03/07/2008 | Mise à jour : 19:21 | .
Ingrid Betancourt arrivera en France vendredi à 16h et sera accueillie à sa descente d'avion par Nicolas Sarkozy, annonce un communiqué de l'Elysée.

L'avion transportant l'ex-otage franco-colombienne devrait atterrir sur la base militaire de Villacoublay (Yvelines). Elle sera ensuite reçue à l'Elysée, en compagnie des membres des comités de soutien qui ont organisé la mobilisation pour sa libération.
Interrogé par les journalistes en marge d'un déplacement au Creusot (Saône-et-Loire), plus tôt dans la journée, Nicolas Sarkozy avait affirmé que "tout le monde sera content de l'accueillir".

"Je pense qu'il faut maintenant qu'elle fasse aussi un check-up médical parce qu'elle n'a pas été ménagée", a avancé Nicolas Sarkozy. L'ancienne otage a fait part pour l'heure de son intention de passer "quelques jours" en France.

Lefigaro.fr

patriot

In her post liberation speech, she said that usually the Israeli Army is known for such successful military operations and who would have thought that the Columbian army would be capable of the same.

Wait till she hears about their last war on Lebanon :)

Lebanese_dream

Quote:

Originally Posted by patriot

In her post liberation speech, she said that usually the Israeli Army is known for such successful military operations and who would have thought that the Columbian army would be capable of the same.

Wait till she hears about their last war on Lebanon :)

They said on TV yesterday that the commando for liberation mad3oum from USA and Israel.
Dunno how much it is real!

dodzi

So apparently, this bloodless military operation was able to:
1- infiltrate FARC controlled territory, liberate captured people without spilling any blood
2- liberate, amongst those 15 hostages, Ingrid Betancourt, and 3 Americans, out of all the hundreds of the hostages, without spilling blood

Let's consider that is true:
1- wouldn't the FARC be mad and execute a couple of hostages for revenge?
2- why did the Colombian president - who supposedly gave the go-ahead for the operation - thank France for their efforts? Why did Sarkozy appear that much in the media, go to Colombia with the children and Kouchner, and get them all back himself?

Anyways, a Swiss newspaper apparently reported that both France and the US payed the FARC millions to secure this release. We'll know the truth soon... Perhaps Sarko will help the FARC construct a nuclear power facility in the next couple of months...

Rors

The Colombian defense minister, in his press conference a couple of hours ago, was asked the same questions by a journalist
He said that he didnt believe the FARC will react that way because they will lose more leverage, they already lost 15 hostages that were destined for prisoners exchanges, they cant afford to lose more.
As for the swiss paper story, he denied it joumlatan wa tafsilan. He said they have paid millions to get any sort of info, but not one single penny for this operation. Claims were that 20 million $ were paid, he said that 20M$ is cheap since they had offered 100M$, and he refuted the whole story.
He also denied any american and israeli intervention as claimed by some sources. He said that the french had no idea about the operation, that the americans knew about it 10 days earlier for there was an agreement with GWB that he will be informed of any operation concerning american citizens...

Neo_Con

God Bless Colombia and Betancourt.