Ingrid Betancourt and 15 other American and Colombian hostages were freed by Colombian forces in the jungle, where they had been held captive by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). Betancourt was a presidential candidate in Colombia and had been captured by the terrorist organization in February 2002. The raid, made possible by wiretaps, took place in a jungle location between the towns of La Paz and Tomachipan (Guaviare, about 400 kilometers south of Bogotá). The infiltrated soldiers led “Commander Cesar” to believe he was flying the hostages by helicopter to Alfonso Cano, the sixty-year-old Colombian anthropologist who became the leader of the FARC in May (following the death of the Marxist guerrilla’s founder, Pedro Antonio Marun, aka Manuel Marulanda or “Tirofijo”).
