Colombian soldiers infiltrated the jungle camp where her son, Marc Gonsalves, had been held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC. Gonsalves and two other Americans, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell, were rescued, along with former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 11 other hostages.

The three Americans had been employed by a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp., when they were taken hostage after their plane crashed during a drug surveillance mission in February 2003.

“Our thoughts and prayers have been answered,” Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Conneticut said in a statement. He had been working with the US State Department to ensure families receive updated information about the hostages. “This is a wonderful day for all of the hostages released today and their loved ones who have been forced to endure five years of heartache and worry,” Dodd said. “I am truly happy for Marc’s mother, Jo Rosano. ..”

On Tuesday, Rosano had joined Betancourt’s daughter Melanie Delloye-Betancourt in a news conference in London, before any of them realised their loved ones would be free.

Rosano had traveled to Colombia three times seeking her son’s release, and has visited Washington a dozen times to beg lawmakers to help. In September, she met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at the United Nations.

Armand Burguet, who lives in Belgium and started the Web site www.betancourt.info to raise awareness about the hostages, said the site crashed from thousands of viewers trying to access it as news of the rescue spread on Wednesday. “I was surprised,” he said. “We’ve been fighting for a long, long time. We never felt that we would succeed.”

Rosano knew from news reports that her son, who suffers from hepatitis, was often chained at the neck to other prisoners.