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Joy Shows Through In Hostage Rescue Video

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The Associated Press

Published: July 4, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Video recorded during the rescue of 15 hostages shows them filing grim-faced toward the helicopter that would fly them to safety, then hugging one another and crying tears of joy after they are aloft and realize they are free.

In the videotape aired Friday at Colombia's military headquarters, the hostages' hands are bound with plastic for what they believe is a flight to another rebel camp. Among those filmed is Ingrid Betancourt.

The camera zooms in on American Keith Stansell.

"I love my family," Stansell, one of three Americans freed in the operation, tells the cameraman in a big jungle clearing. "Pray alot."

The local commander, alias Cesar, is put on camera but refuses an interview. A Colombian hostage talks to the camera.

The video was shot by Colombian soldiers posing as a media crew during Wednesday's operation, which tricked rebels into giving up the hostages.

The final images in the three-minute video shows the hostages as they realize what's up - that after years in jungle prisons, they are finally free.

The actual moment in which Cesar and the other rebel who accompanied the hostages are overpowered was not captured on video. But the hostages' elation at being freed - many after a decade as hostages in jungle jails - was recorded.

Betancourt, the former presidential candidate kidnapped in 2002, is seen beaming with joy.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos denied reports in international media that Israel was involved in the operation, assuring that it was 100 percent Colombian."

"Not a single foreigner participated," he said.

He said U.S. authorities were informed 10 days before the operation as part of an agreement President Alvaro Uribe had with U.S. President George W. Bush.

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