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July 23rd, 2008
Posted: 09:31 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Colombia’s minister of defense said Wednesday that two of the nine people involved in this month’s daring rescue of 15 hostages held by Colombian rebels were pretending to be working for a regional television news organization. Juan Manuel Santos said his “Hollywood” rescuers who freed former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three American military contractors and 11 Colombian police and military in a bloodless operation included members of Colombia’s military intelligence unit who were pretending to be “a journalist and a cameraman — TeleSUR,” he told reporters during a day that included a visit with President Bush and his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. “The supposed journalist had a microphone that said ‘TeleSUR,’” he said. “I don’t know if it was the same one or a different one.” The actors “were drilled 24 hours per day in their own script,” Santos said. “They set up a facade of a false humanitarian organization and they had to learn their lines. Because if they were caught or were asked and they did not respond correctly, they were dead.” Also included in the team were “a real doctor, a nurse” and members of the Colombian military who were pretending to be an Italian, an Australian, an Arab, a Cuban and a Dominican, he said. |
 
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