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Check Operation.


Today, July 2nd, we Colombians are conmemorating the first aniversary of The Check Operation (La Operación Jaque in Spanish). Check as in chess.
The Check Operation was a military operation carried out by the intelligence of the Colombia Army in which 15 hostages held by the left-wing guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC were rescued succesfully without shooting one single bullet. No one was injured but two guerrilla commanders were captured. The hostages were a former presidential candidate, Ingid Betancourt, 3 American contractors of CIA, 11 Colombia Army and 4 Police members, who had been kidnapped for between 7 and 10 years.
This operation is considered by experts the best military operation in Colombian history, only compared to the ones of the Independence in the beginning of 19th Century, and the best intelligency operation in the world's history since the Army members who carried out the operation infiltrated the FARC´s communications in the jungle and impersonated its top commanders in order to get together the 15 hostages and pick them up by a helicopter, making the FARC believe that they were members of a NGO and the press. After the departure, the army members, in the helicopter, subjugated and arrested two guerrilla commanders who were accompanying the hostages. Finally, the former hostages met their families and co-workers.
In my opinion The Check Operation was exceptional because the probabilities of failing were huge and it could end in the death of the hostages, the Army members and, even, the guerrilla who were watching over the hostages. When I watch the videos of the operation, they seem to me, and for many people, a movie with an incredible script. But, the intelligence of the Colombia Army succeedde, what makes me feel proud since once I belonged to that army as a soldier in my mandatory military service.
The day of the operation I had the chance of covering as a reporter the Check Operation. I was sent to the US Embassy in Bogota in order to get information about the three American contractors, but the only information I got was the one provided by the ambassador William Brownfield through a press comference. According to the ambassador, at that moment the contractors were already flying to the US.
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