Mossad, the Israeli secret service, was involved in the operation to free hostage Ingrid Betancourt from Colombian rebels, a Spanish newspaper claimed Sunday, saying that the US and French secret services were also involved.
"Mossad and the US and French intelligence services worked for more than a year with the Colombian authorities to develop the plan," Vanguardia said, citing an Israeli secret service source. Colombian armed forces freed Franco-Colombian politician Betancourt, three US nationals and 11 Colombian soldiers on July 2 from the jungle, where they were being held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
According to Vanguardia, Israel, France and the US had different reasons for participating in the operation: France because of Betancourt's half-French nationality, the US because of the three Americans in the group and Israel in order to maintain good bilateral relations with Colombia and the US.
Vanguardia's correspondent in Tel Aviv said the Mossad operation consisted of two agents unknown to each other separately infiltrating FARC. The pair managed to penetrate the Marxist guerrilla group so effectively that they ultimately controlled what FARC did or did not know, the Catalan newspaper said. The Israeli and US secret services used unmanned spy drones to locate the camp where the hostage were held, Vanguardia said.