Colombia’s government vowed on Wednesday to never “disrespect” the Red Cross emblem after the Geneva-based institution deplored the improper use of its cross during a hostage rescue operation last month.
“Nobody in the military forces or in the country will disrespect this emblem or use it inappropriately because now we are aware of it,” Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said.
“Many people did not know how important it is to respect the emblems of international organizations,” he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) deplored on Wednesday the apparent “deliberate misuse” of its emblem by the Colombian military during the liberation of French-Colombian rebel hostage Ingrid Betancourt on July 2.
The ICRC was reacting to video footage of the helicopter rescue mission aired on Colombia’s RCN television late on Monday showing a Colombian soldier wearing the ICRC emblem before the operation to release Betancourt and 14 other hostages had even begun.
The footage flew in the face of statements by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe after the rescue to the effect that the emblem was not used deliberately, but as the result of what Santos called on Wednesday “a moment of tension” during the rescue operation.
Santos, in radio interviews, said he was “very surprised” when he saw an army captain donning the ICRC emblem on the video at the start of the rescue.
“I had no knowledge of the video and [Armed Forces Commander] General [Freddy] Padilla didn’t know. We knew nothing about it,” he said.
However, he said an investigation was underway to find out who released the video footage to RCN and whether they did it for money, or out of vengeance “for any specific motive.”
Santos said that the secret filming could qualify as “treason” because “it jeopardized the lives of the military who took part in the operation.”
Despite the controversy over the ICRC emblem, Santos said, the rescue operation must be remembered as “a clean action, in which not a single shot was fired,” and the men who took part in it “should still be considered real heroes.”
Visiting French Defense Minister Herve Morin on Wednesday extended his government’s full support to Uribe’s anti-rebel policy and strategy, and thanked him for the successful rescue of Betancourt after six years in captivity.
After meeting with Uribe and Santos, Morin said at a press conference that the rescue operation had “opened a new page of trust in French-Colombian relations.”
Betancourt and the other captives were rescued from captivity with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s oldest and strongest leftist guerrilla group that is believed to hold some 700 hostages.
Meanwhile, Colombian police on Wednesday thwarted two car bombings FARC rebels had planned for Bogota during yesterday’s Independence Day celebrations, and arrested five rebels, officials said.
“National police located two vehicles loaded with 85kg of explosives which FARC planned to use in simultaneous bombings in the capital during the Aug. 7 national holiday,” a police statement said.
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