Uribe: Stunning rescue was "meticulously prepared" (Extra)

Jul 3, 2008, 4:45 GMT

Bogota - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and top military officials addressed the country late Wednesday to explain the daring rescue operation to freed former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages held by leftist rebels.

'Everything was meticulously prepared,' Uribe said in a televised address.

The 12 Colombian hostages rescued Monday were on hand as the authorities detailed the rescue, codenamed Operation Jaque, the Spanish chess term for check, as in checkmate.

The other three captives - US military contractors Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves - were immediately flown to the US, where they landed shortly before midnight at an Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas.

Operation Jaque, which lasted just over 22 minutes, was the result of an infiltration of the guerrilla hierarchy, Colombian authorities said.

Colombian commandos posing as fellow rebels apparently tricked the FARC captors into handing over the hostages into their custody, allowing them to helicopter the captives to freedom.

The handcuffed captives themselves were taken in by the military's ruse, she said, believing they were being subjected to another transfer among remote rebel bases, only for the government troops to reveal their identities after the doors were closed and the aircraft was aloft.

Two rebels who boarded the helicopter were taken into custody. Uribe stressed that the military left some 60 rebels on the ground when the helicopter took off.

'We had taken the decision not to shoot them. We were interested in rescuing the kidnapped,' he said.

Uribe said that the decision not to fire on the rebels left behind was partly to send a message to FARC, hoping that the group's remaining hostages will be treated well.

After addressing the nation, Uribe acted as a talk show host with Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos, General Freddy Padilla and General Mario Montoya, who discussed the operation.

Santos said that the families of the hostages were not informed in advance, to avoid endangering the operation.

'The risk for the kidnapped was always minimal,' he insisted.

Early in the planning for the mission, which took many months to orchestrate, the intelligence officials who first devised the rescue 'were considered mad.'

Uribe stressed that 'there was never any improvisation' in the operation, while Padilla said that the operation was kept 'simple' and was based on infiltration of the guerrillas.

Montoya said that Colombian intelligence infiltrated FARC's seven- member leadership council.

'Your birthday is July 4, and this is your present from the Colombian Armed Forces,' Padilla told Uribe.