A love story: that may have been the origin of Operation Jaque, in which Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans and eleven soldiers and policemen were liberated from the guerrilla movement FARC. El Nuevo Herald, the newspaper for Latin American readers in Miami, published this romantic hypothesis and the Colombian army doesn’t like it.
It is a love story between the guerrilla woman Doris Adriana and one of the jailers of the hostages in the FARC camp. His name is Antonio Aguilar, better known as César (nom de guerre). Doris Adriana was captured by the Colombian authorities in February 2008. The story is that she mediated between César and the Colombian and American authorities to arrange the liberation of the hostages: just to see Cesar back.
The versions about what really happened during Operation Jaque are getting more and more confused and Doris Adriana is part of it. There are statements about a much bigger involvement of the Americans than the Colombians want to admit. It is their success story and nobody is allowed to spoil it.
It is rumored that that the Americans did much of the previous work of the operation. Intelligence for example. And now El Nuevo Herald comes with the most spectacular story: two Colombian lawyers were contacted by the guerrilla in order to liberate Ingrid Betancourt and the three Americans.
The guerrilleros involved would get the guarantee not to be extradited to the United States and would be able to go to another country, France for example. The lawyers informed the Colombian and American authorities and a group of people started to work on it.
But the lawyers lost sight of the case and the hostages got free in a different way. That may perhaps have been the moment when Doris Adriana had been interfering to see her César back, but was captured.
What a pity that maybe we will never find out the truth because the interest of success stories and a good image is so big. The lawyers interviewed by El Nuevo Herald insist that they think the operation wasn’t a rescue but was negotiated. And if it is true, so what? It is fantastic that fifteen persons could be released from such a big torture. And it is not a shame that the liberation might be negotiated. It would still be a great job.
And look how contradictory this cruel and endless Colombian war is. Love might be more important than winning the war.
Author Wies Ubags is a
Dutch freelance journalist in Bogotá and works for media in
her country.