Former presidential candidate, held for six years, among 15 freed hostages

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BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia freed Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages, including three U.S. military contractors, from leftist guerrillas yesterday, saying military spies tricked rebels into giving them up without a single shot being fired.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, right, is kissed by her mother Yolanda Pulecio upon arrival to a military base in Bogota, after being rescued from six years of captivity yesterday.

Betancourt, who was seized while campaigning for president six long years ago, called her surprise rescue "absolutely impeccable" and said she and the other hostages had no idea they were being rescued until they were airborne in disguised military helicopters.

"They got us out grandly," Betancourt told Colombian army radio.

Eleven Colombian police and soldiers were also freed in the rescue, the most serious blow ever dealt to the 44-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which considered the four hostages their most valuable bargaining chips. The FARC is already reeling from the deaths of key commanders and the loss of much of the territory it once held.

Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said military intelligence agents infiltrated the guerrilla ranks and led the local commander in charge of the hostages, alias Cesar, to believe they were going to take them by helicopter to Alfonso Cano, the guerrillas' supreme leader.

The hostages, who had been divided in three groups, were taken to a rallying point where two helicopters piloted by Colombian military agents were waiting. The helicopters took off with the hostages, Cesar and one other rebel, and those two "were neutralized" during the flight, Santos said.

Betancourt said her hands and feet were bound on the way to the helicopters, and that only when the choppers had taken off did military crewmembers reveal their identity.

The rest of the rebel captors had dropped off the hostages and retreated into the jungle. The army let them escape "in hopes that they will free the rest of the hostages," Santos said. The government says the FARC still holds about 700 hostages.