Colombian soldiers rescued two senior police officers and a police sergeant that leftist guerrillas held hostage in the jungle for nearly 12 years, a minister said on Sunday.
A fourth police officer being held hostage escaped his captors during the military rescue operation and was presumably hiding as army patrols searched for him in the southern Amazon jungle, Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said.
Colombian Armed Forces Commander Freddy Padilla said the three rescued men were expected to arrive in Bogota yesterday.
“Operation Chameleon,” the most important hostage rescue mission since French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans were freed in 2008, was “flawless,” Silva said.
The rescued hostages — General Luis Herlindo Mendieta, who on Sunday turned 53, Colonel Enrique Murillo and Sergeant Arbey Delgado Argote — were still in the area of operations in southern Guaviare department “well protected” by 300 soldiers, Silva said.
Ongoing fighting between the military and rebels with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas were preventing the rescued hostages from leaving the area, officials said.
Padilla said an army sergeant died during the mission, although not where the rescue took place. He gave no further details.
Officials identified the escaped hostage as police Colonel William Donato.
“We have great hope he’s hiding out and that we’ll be able to rescue him in the next few hours,” Silva said.
FARC rebels captured Delgado and Donato in August 1998 in a raid on an anti-narcotics base in the Guaviare region. The guerrillas captured Mendieta and Murillo in November of that year in an attack on the remote southeastern border with Brazil.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe announced the rescue earlier in the day.
“I’m the happiest woman in the world!” Delgado’s wife, Gladys Duarte, told RCN radio after hearing the good news.
Relatives of the other rescued officers were also overjoyed by the news.
“I’m so happy. Finally my prayers have been answered,” Mendieta’s wife, Maria Teresa, said between sobs. “He’s celebrating his birthday and it’s the best gift ... Finally I can celebrate a birthday with him. I can’t wait to put my arms around him.”
“The first thing I’ll tell him is that I love him ... that I’ve missed him a lot,” Murillo’s 11-year-old son, Sebastian, told Caracol TV
News of the high-profile rescue comes one week ahead of runoff presidential elections in which Uribe’s chosen successor, former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos, is favored to beat former Bogota mayor Antanas Mockus.
The first round of voting was held on May 30.
Uribe, barred constitutionally from seeking a third term in office, is credited with cracking down on the rebels and cutting the FARC’s numbers by half since he took office in 2002.
Santos, who as defense minister was credited with the spectacular July 2008 rescue of Betancourt, three American hostages and 11 military personnel from the FARC, has vowed to continue Uribe’s crackdown on insurgents and crime.
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