Colombia’s military rescued Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages who had been held for years by the FARC. The three rescued Americans had been held by the FARC in southern Colombia since February 2003.

Washington -- U.S. officials praised and congratulated Colombia’s government and armed forces for a July 2 rescue mission that freed 15 hostages, including three Americans and French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt. All been held for years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

President Bush said July 3 that he had spoken with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and offered his congratulations to the military and those who had planned the operation.

“I'm proud of our relationship with Colombia, and I'm proud of my friend, President Uribe. I appreciate his courage and his strong leadership and the successful operations they waged,” Bush said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said July 2 that the American hostages -- Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell -- are being reunited with their families in the United States. The FARC is responsible for the “health and well-being” of its remaining hostages, she said, calling for their immediate release.

“We commend the Government of Colombia for its sustained efforts to secure the safe return of all FARC hostages. Our thoughts and prayers remain with those still held by the FARC and their loved ones,” Rice said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said July 3 that Rice had spoken with both the Colombian foreign minister and Colombia’s ambassador to the United States to “congratulate them on a successful rescue operation as well as to thank them for their persistence in working to see that these hostages were freed and returned to their families.”

The three American hostages were defense contractors who were seized February 13, 2003, when their plane crashed in southern Colombia during a routine mission to detect cocaine crops. The FARC, which has been designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, killed the plane’s other crew members, American Thomas Janis and Colombian army Sergeant Luis Alcides Cruz.

Prior to their rescue, Gonsalves, Howes and Stansell were the longest-held U.S. hostages in the world.

“Obviously, we’re overjoyed that they were rescued and that they are able to be reunited with their families,” McCormack said.

According to Colombian military spokesmen, planning for the rescue operation began in 2007 and was coordinated with intelligence agents who had infiltrated the FARC. The organization was led to believe it was handing over the 15 hostages for transfer to another guerilla camp, and the operation was carried out without a shot being fired.

“This was a Colombian-planned and Colombian-executed rescue operation,” McCormack said, adding that the United States played only a “support role.”

The FARC has been fighting the Colombian government for the past four decades. McCormack praised Colombia for the “great determination, focus, [and] reform” that its government and people have shown during the long struggle.

“[R]ight now the world is witnessing some of the results of the hard work that the Colombian people and the Colombian government have put in over the years to combat the FARC on a variety of different fronts,” he said.

According to the Colombian government, approximately 700 people still are held by the FARC. “This terrorist group should release these innocent people unharmed so that they can be reunited with their families.”

The spokesman also praised Uribe and other Colombian officials for standing by their commitment to treat all the hostages the same, regardless of nationality.

He said Colombia has a reintegration program for members of the FARC who wish to leave the organization, but the country “is also very capable, clearly, of dealing with members of the FARC through other means as well.”

For additional information on Colombia’s efforts against the FARC, see “Death of Terrorist Leader Might Help End Colombia’s Civil Unrest.”

NEWS MEDIA HELPED HOSTAGE MORALE

Former Colombian Senator Ingrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped by the FARC while running for president in 2002, also thanked Colombian authorities for their “impeccable operation.” She spoke at a press conference in Bogota, Colombia, July 2

“Let this instance of happiness not let us forget the others who have died,” she said, adding that peace between Colombia and the FARC “must be made with the promise that there are no more kidnappings.”

Betancourt also praised the role of the international media for keeping the story alive in the press and for passing messages between them and their families.

“I owe a lot to the media. If it had not been for you, I would probably not be alive. Those of you who took time to give us space on the radio, the possibility to communicate with our families, I owe you so much,” she said. “I owe a lot to those who gave us space on the radio to have a chance to communicate with our families. We were able to dream and keep hope alive because we heard our families, my mother, our children ....”