Betancourt, U..S. hostages rescued from Colombian rebels

By Reed JohnsonStaff Writer

July 2, 2008 4:18 PM PT

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Colombian soldiers infiltrated a jungle camp and then used a ruse to induce leftist guerrillas to free 15 long-term hostages, including a former presidential candidate and three U.S. military contractors, officials said today, the Times’ Chris Kraul is reporting.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said the military today rescued former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans employed by a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp. and 11 others held for years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

‘This was an unprecedented operation,’ Santos told reporters. ‘It will go down in history for its audaciousness and effectiveness.’

According to Colombian officials, the military tricked guerrillas into bringing the hostages together to be transported to a FARC commander by helicopter. The military also infiltrated a security cordon surrounding a jungle camp in southeast Colombia.

-- Reed Johnson in Los Angeles

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Reed Johnson

Reed Johnson es el ex editor de Los Angeles Times en Español. En 2018, se reincorporó a Los Angeles Times como editor asistente. Johnson había trabajado anteriormente para The Times como escritor de 2000 a 2014, incluidos cuatro años y medio como escritor de cultura latinoamericana del periódico, con sede en la Ciudad de México. También ha trabajado como reportero para el Wall Street Journal, con sede en São Paulo, Brasil; como editor de Zócalo Public Square; y como reportero del Detroit News, el L.A. Daily News y el Times-Union de Rochester, Nueva York.