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Military agents secure release of Colombia's Betancourt

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Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. nationals were freed after being held hostage for several years by a Marxist rebel group, through a bloodless military intelligence operation.
MOSCOW, July 3 (RIA Novosti) - Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. nationals were freed after being held hostage for several years by a Marxist rebel group, through a bloodless military intelligence operation.

The politician, who holds dual French-Colombian citizenship, had been the focus of an international campaign since her capture in 2002, with leaders including the French president attempting to negotiate her release.

The four hostages, along with 11 others, were freed on Wednesday after Colombian military intelligence officers working undercover infiltrated the command structure of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, in a jungle province, and convinced the local commander that they were taking the hostages by helicopter to FARC's leader Alfonso Cano.

After landing at a military base in Guaviare, the helicopter was surrounded by military commandos, and the insurgents on board surrendered without putting up armed resistance.

Speaking after arriving in the Colombian capital Bogota, Betancourt thanked Colombia and France for efforts to secure her release, calling it a "miracle."

"There is no historical precedent for such a perfect operation," she said.

The release comes as a major blow to the 44-year-old insurgent group, who considered the foreign hostages their most valuable bargaining chips.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, whose father was killed by FARC insurgents, and who has consistently refused to make any compromises with the group, said: "This was an intelligence operation comparable with the greatest epics of human history, but without a drop of blood being spilled, without one weapon being fired."

United States President George W. Bush congratulated Uribe on the successful operation, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy called it "the end of a six-year struggle."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a staunch opponent of the pro-U.S. Colombian leader, also called to offer his congratulations.

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