Update 3: The Colombian military is claiming now that the "rescue" of the 15 prisoners today was whistle-clean. They claim that the FARC "turned the prisoners over to us". The claim is that FARC thought the Colombian soldiers were were members of FARC. The Colombian military arrived in a in a helicopter, dressed as FARC fatigues and one with a tee shirt bearing an image of Ché Guevarra to fool them. The Colombian military claims that they rescued the prisoners "without a single shot fired" and that they captured 2 FARC soldiers. The Colombian's version of this prisoner release was supported by the words of Ingrid Betancourt, below".

Question, was this a "rescue" in a Colombian military operations as claimed or was it another unilateral prisoner release by FARC, after FARC was called upon by Chávez to release prisoners and following a FARC's track record of unconditional prisoner releases earlier this year?. Perhaps.

President Bush will no doubt be claiming this prisoner release is an example of the success of Plan Colombia and a push for the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, both of which are now stalled in Congress. CNN is at this moment opining that this "successful rescue operation ... will breath new life into Plan Colombia and the Free Trade Agreement.

Ingrid Betacourt appeared on CNN expressing her happiness for her liberation and thanking everyone for their support for her.  She also thanked "my army ... their operation was impeccable". She also thanked "the media ... without you, I probably wouldn't be alive".  She said that FARC asked her and her friends "to pack all our things" and that they were going to fly them to another place. She said that when she asked where they would be going, they replied, "somewhere safe, it will be important". She said that when the helicopters arrived, they were dressed as FARC and they were not there to help. She also thanked a nurse who helped her to recover from illness while in captivity. She said that after the helicopter was airborn they were shocked when Colombian soldiers told her and her friends that they were free. She stated that the Israelis know about their experience today because the Israelies have perfected this kind of rescue operation. She said that "We must fight for the liberation of the others" in captivity. She called her liberation today "a miracle".

 - Les Blough in Venezuela

Updates 1, 2

TeleSur announced today that Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other FARC Prisoners were released today. On Sunday, June 8, President Chávez called on FARC to release all prisoners after securing the release of 6 FARC prisoners earlier this year. Earlier, on March 9, he called on FARC specifically to release Betancourt. The Western media is reporting that the prisoner release today was actually a rescue by the Colombia military. On May 1, 2008, FARC's attempts to negotiate a peaceful release of the prisoners was met with an attack killing Raul Reyes, FARC leader and chief negotiator. If the prisoners were rescued in a military operation today, the effects of such an attack on FARC leaves in question the future of the remaining hundreds of prisoners.

Ingrid Bentancourt, a former Colombian senator was captured in FARC territory on February 23, 2002. She was a particularly high-profile prisoner of FARC because of her political status as a senator and her run for the Colombian presidency and her dual Colombian-French citizenship. The US media is presenting Betancourt today as one who was fighting the drug cartels in Colombia in an attempt to link FARC with the Colombian drug lords. President Uribe, members of his family and administration have had close ties to the Colombian cocaine cartels for years according to CIA documents declassified last year.

The prisoners released today included 3 U.S. CIA mercenaries captured by FARC.  Keith Stansell, Thomas Howes and Marc Gonsalves were captured after their plane was shot down by FARC on February 23, 2003. A fourth American, Thomas John Janis, a former officer in the U.S. military, and a Colombian military intelligence officer, Luis Alcides Cruz, were found shot and killed near the scene of the crash. Just after their capture, a message posted on a FARC web site stated, "The three gringo prisoners of war in custody of our organization will be freed along with other Colombian prisoners of war as soon as an exchange occurs between the FARC and the Government of President Uribe Velez in a large demilitarized zone."

The names of the other 11 prisoners released today have not yet been released.

Commentary: Chávez' success in gaining the release of the 6 prisoners was an embarrassment for President Uribe who refused to discuss a prisoner exchange with FARC and had made no progress in ending the 40 year civil war in Colombia. President Uribe attempted to sabotage that prisoner release on several occasions by denying Chávez and Colombian Colombian Liberal Party Senator Piedad Cordobá access to the prisoners. 

Following their release, those 6 former prisoners credited President Chávez and Piedad Cordobá for their release, denying President Uribe any credit whatsoever. In fact one of those prisoners stated that President Uribe delayed their release and endangered their lives by carrying out military operations during the process of the release. During negotiations for the release of all FARC prisoners, the US/Uribe governments killed Raul Reyes, FARC leader who was attempting to negotiate the release the prisoners from a camp in Ecuador. The cross-border missile attack in Ecuadoran territory was roundly condemned by governments in Latin America. 22 others including Mexican university students and one Ecuadoran civilian were also killed in the attack.

If or how President Chávez call rescue of prisoners and his call for the total release of prisoners was involved with today's release is not yet known. The Colombian and US governments and western media is reporting that the Colombian military rescued the prisoners today in a military operation. The latter claims are being uniformly supported by the western media today.

It is interesting that the Western Media (CNN) is claiming that the “Colombian military rescue of the hostages and a FARC defeat”, in wall-to-wall coverage throughout the day today against the backdrop of giving no coverage to President Chavez’ success in gaining the first prisoner release earlier this year. CNN is raising no questions when reporting the Colombian government's version of what happened today. Today, CNN is not only crediting the Uribe regime for the release of prisoners but also making claims that the Colombian government has been bending over backwards to negotiate with FARC for a prisoner release. On the contrary, CNN is announcing that the negotiations between Chávez and FARC "never went anywhere". Today, CNN also used today's news to support John McCain's run for the US presidency. almost immediately played videotape of John McCain who coincidentally stated in an interview this morning that he would do all he can to gain the release of the prisoners and stated he would support Uribe in "doing whatever it takes" to gain their release. CNN is also crediting French President Sarkozy, a friend of George Bush for his contribution to the release. Of one thing we can be certain, Bogota and Washington and every other politician even remotely related to FARC and Colombia will be climbing on board to exploit today's news for their own political gain.

If the release of FARC prisoners was due to a military operation today, an important question remains: What effect will such an operation have on FARC's treatment on the other hundreds of prisoners held by FARC?

Axis of Logic will update this story throughout the day today as new facts are revealed. 

© Copyright 2008 by AxisofLogic.com

- Les Blough in Venezuela