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Video shows hostages rejoicing at moment of rescue

AP — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:21:33 +0000

Video taken during the rescue of 15 rebel hostages shows them filing grim-faced toward the helicopter that would fly them to safety, then hugging one another and crying with joy after they are aloft and realize they are...

Joy in video of Colombia hostage rescue

AP — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:21:50 +0000

Video recorded during the rescue of 15 hostages shows them filing grim-faced toward the helicopter that would fly them to safety, then hugging one another and crying tears of joy after they are aloft and realize they are...

Colombians mull possibility of Betancourt presidency

AP — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:42:23 +0000

Could Ingrid Betancourt become Colombia’s next president? It was one of the first questions she was asked after being freed in a daring helicopter rescue from six years in rebel...

Correction: Colombia Hostages story

AP — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:16:43 +0000

In a July 2 story about the rescue of kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages from Colombian rebels, The Associated Press erroneously translated Betancourt as saying she still aspires “to serve Colombia as president.” Here is the correct translation: “Do I still hope to serve Colombia as president? ... only God knows. At this moment, I just want to feel like one more Colombian soldier serving the country.” Betancourt also said she will consult with her children and mother before making decisions about her political future.

Colombia hostage rescue sidelines Chavez

AP — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:53:36 +0000

Hugo Chavez, once a key mediator in securing hostage releases from Colombian rebels, could do little more than phone congratulations to President Alvaro Uribe after this week’s bold...

Colombia rescue hinged on rebel disarray, payback

AP — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:34:32 +0000

The plan was nothing if not audacious: An infiltrator persuades rebels to bring together their most prized hostages and march them 90 miles through Colombia’s wilderness. A month later, disguised commandos primed with acting lessons land in a helicopter and trick the rebels into handing them over.

Colombian hostages say life grew more dire

AP — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:05:49 +0000

A meal was rice and beans. Bed was the ground under a patched plastic tarp. They bathed in rivers, and when they weren’t chained by the neck to trees, they were forced on long marches to new hideouts under the jungle...

Freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt embraces children

AP — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:20:10 +0000

Former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt embraced her children for the first time in six years Thursday, saying the thought of them helped her stay alive until a daring rescue plucked her and 14 other hostages from the...

Freed hostage Betancourt to travel to France

AP — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:11:57 +0000

Rescued hostage Ingrid Betancourt says she will travel to France and meet President Nicolas Sarkozy now that she is free after more than six years of captivity among Colombian...

Colombia frees Betancourt, US hostages from rebels

AP — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:04:33 +0000

Ingrid Betancourt woke up, as always, at 4 a.m., for another numbing day in her seventh year of rebel captivity deep in Colombia’s jungle. The former presidential candidate listened to news of her mother and daughter over the radio then was told to pack by her guerrilla captors _ helicopters were coming.