Colombia frees Betancourt, 14 others from rebels

“I never expected to get out of there alive,” said Betancourt, 46, her voice sounding frail, but charged with excitement, in comments broadcast on the radio.

On Colombian television, 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 helicopters landed in the jungle at dawn, carrying personnel whom she presumed were part of a humanitarian mission to transport the hostages elsewhere, according to Colombian press reports. The captives were handcuffed and “humiliated,” then put on the helicopters accompanied by two guerrillas who were guarding them, Betancourt explained.

Once the doors of the helicopter closed, the guerrillas were subdued, and Betancourt said her handcuffs were removed and the crew told the 15 captives they were free. She said she looked down at one of the men who had been her captor. “I saw him on the floor,” she said. “I did not feel happiness, but what a shame.”

In Bogotá, after a joyful reunion with her mother, she thanked the military for an “impeccable operation.” She looked healthy, especially in light of reports that she had been despondent recently and images showing her thin and distraught in a video captured from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Taken captive in 2002 while she campaigned quixotically for the presidency, Betancourt, over her years as a hostage, became a symbol of suffering, courage and endurance.

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. Colombia’s defence minister, Juan Manuel Santos, said the captives, who also included 11 former members of Colombia’s security forces, were removed from the jungle on Wednesday by an elite commando unit in Guaviare after Colombian intelligence operatives infiltrated the FARC’s seven-member secretariat.

The United States was involved in the planning of the operation and provided “specific support,” the...