The truth about "Operation Redemption" of Ingrid Betancourt and the American Mercenaries

To be able to understand "Operation Redemption" to free Ingrid Betancourt and the mercenaries of the company Northrop Grumman Corporation who were released together with her, it is necessary to connect the pieces published in the media and their meaning, to filter the content, and from there to form a true understanding of the facts of what happened.

1. On the 3rd of June, Columbian Senator Piedad Cordoba disclosed that he had information that the government of Colombia was negotiating an agreement with FARC to exchange money for the freedom of Betancourt and the mercenaries. The official politics of the two countries, Colombia and the United States, is that they "do not negotiate with terrorists," while several leaders of Latin American countries accuse President Uribe of supporting the death squads made by paramilitaries and accuse the United States of promoting, supporting and guaranteeing the security of known terrorists, such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles.

2. Attentive observers began to question the strange circumstances that surrounded the event of the "dramatic rescue" of Ingrid Betancourt. Some men wearing Che Guevara t-shirts simply had appeared and placed the hostages on board a helicopter? If it was thus so easy, why had it not been done years ago? The French media also found odd the fact that Betancourt did not have the distressed or hungry appearance in the images that were distributed before when she was still in captivity - she had a healthful appearance and appeared to have been fed well, as she was being prepared to be freed.

3. More confusion came when the capitalist media used this opportunity to edit the conference with the press given by Betancourt, keeping only the parts that glorify Uribe and the United States and excluding the parts in which she speaks of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador and their important efforts to find a diplomatic and peaceful solution for this crisis. The conference with the press was transmitted in the full text by Latin American media, such as Telesur, but only small edited pieces were transmitted by CNN (channel in English), Fox News and other media of the northern hemisphere. For example, one of the things excluded in the edited version were the comments of Betancourt that she felt used by the whole situation and that the operation had put the life of the prisoners at risk while a diplomatic solution, such as the ones carried out by President Chavez, guaranteed the security of the prisoners.

4. The capitalist media, without any shame, immediately started to use the situation to promote their political objectives: in all areas of the corporate media, Uribe was being portrayed as a hero, the days are counted for FARC and nothing is mentioned of the peaceful and diplomatic deeds and actions by Chavez that freed several prisoners kept by FARC.

5. This Friday, information had started to come to the surface, that in fact, the government of Colombia secretly paid US $20 million dollars to FARC in exchange for the liberation of Betancourt and the North American mercenaries, confirming what Senator Cordoba had said a month ago. This history was published by the French media MediaPart and by radio Suisse Romande of Switzerland. MediaPart also divulged that France and Colombia would guarantee safe asylum for some members of FARC as part of the agreement.

6. Dominique Moisi, one of the most prominent specialists in French foreign policies, said that it was " possible " that FARC had received money in exchange for the prisoners. "They were taken in order to be handed over, as heads of the Mafia, " she said to the state-owned French television channel.

7. In function of these events, the government of Ecuador suspended diplomatic relations of the country with Colombia.

8. The news that US $20 million dollars were paid, quickly circulated in the all the corporate media while they fought to try to distort the information. The confusion caused by this bizarre operation makes much more sense when it is seen as an action pre-organized, to exchange prisoners for money. And, the true face of the Latin American extreme right was again exposed.

9. It is worthwhile to repeat that together with Betancourt, soldiers of the United States also were set free that were working with private contracts. They had been captured when the aircraft that was doing observation flights came down inside a territory controlled by FARC during an operation of the Colombia Plan. Northrop Grumman, a company that manufactures airplanes and armaments, received a contract of $60 million to provide logistical support for the military operations of the United States and of Colombia in the war regions. Between the years 1990 and 2002, Northrop Grumman contributed with US 8.5 million dollars for federal campaigns.