Betancourt freed after 6 years as FARC hostage

COLOMBIA freed Ingrid Betancourt and three US military contractors from leftist guerrillas after military spies tricked rebels into giving them up without a single injury, the defence minister said. In all, the operation freed 15 hostages including Colombian soldiers and police, Juan Manuel Santos said.

The rescue is the most serious blow ever dealt to the 44-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who considered Betancourt and the Americans their most valuable bargaining chips.

In Paris, the French-Colombian politician’s son Lorenzo Delloye-Betancourt called her release after six years of captivity, “if true, the most beautiful news of my life”.