As hostage, officer saw Colombia rebels decline

[naaman fletcher]

BOGOTA, Colombia — After he was captured by leftist rebels, Luis Mendieta's status in Colombia's police force suddenly became his curse. The rebels' military chief told the lieutenant colonel — his highest-ranking hostage — that he would be the last captive freed

.......

On Mendieta's 53rd birthday, the camouflaged face he'd long been seeking in the undergrowth finally appeared. Gunfire crackled, his rebel guards fled and he slithered through the mud to safety. His saviors were elite Colombian commandos whose U.S.-trained unit didn't exist until well into his captivity.

....

In the early days, hostage life was easier. The FARC was at the height of its military power. It had a Switzerland-sized safe haven in its traditional southern stronghold, where it took delivery of 10,000 new AK-47 assault rifles as it expanded its cocaine-trafficking operations

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Mendieta got increasingly hopeful in 2008, as the rebels endured a series of major setbacks. One rebel leader was killed in a bombing raid by Colombia's military, which was getting half a billion dollars a year in U.S. aid. Another was slain by a reward-seeking bodyguard. And the rebels' legendary founder, Manuel Marulanda, died of natural causes.
Rebel desertions were at record levels, and two of Mendieta's guards had taken their own lives. One, a medic in his late 20s named Jean Carlos, blew himself up


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h75wRayk4yvO47drFFBy_aLNX8qQD9GV2LA80


Am glad this man was freed from Chavez's narco-terrorist friends.