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El Tiempo reports this evening, in a dispatch from Sergio Masseri, the Washington correspondent, that US forces worked for years in trying to rescue the kidnapped Americans from FARC. The participation included special forces from the 7th Special Forces Group and the Green Berets (are they the same? maybe, I don’t know.)
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Working in the Colombian Jungle, says the report, American commandos, together with Colombian forces, installed cameras and transmision equipment close to rivers where the guerrilas were likely to appear. The movement-activated cameras sent their signals to the American intelligence network. These actions helped locate the Americans while bathing on a river on February 16; US and Colombian commandos followed them for days while considering rescue options, of which they desisted considering it an impossibility at the time.
In the meantime the government was working on operation "check-mate" (Jaque); the US only learned about it when the groups controlling the prisoners were detected converging onto a common site, close to the town Tomachipán, Guaviare, where they were eventually rescued. The US ambassador then demanded an explanation from the Colombians, who only came forward when they were ready to launch the operation and to ask for US approval. Dick Cheney and Condoleeeza Rice approved the operation.
It is rumored, according to the report, that at least one American agent was onboard the second rescue helicopter, which did not land. This is emphatically denied by the Colombian minister of defense. If all the yarns weaved recently by the Colombian government are taken into consideration, the minister’s denial probably means the American presence is true.
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Revelan detalles inéditos de la participación de E.U. en la 'Operación Jaque'
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