The Colombian military's daring operation aimed to rescue three American contractors who were being held by the fearsome guerrillas of FARC
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Shortly after 1 p.m. the next day, the hostages heard the roar of the two Russian helicopters. One stayed in the air. The other landed next to a field of coca bushes. Guerrillas in crisp camouflage uniforms stood at attention while two rebels pointed M60 machine guns at the aircraft.
The first off the helicopter was the fake Arab. He smiled at the guerrillas and wandered around as if awestruck by the natural beauty of the landscape. Next came the agents impersonating the Venezuelan news team, then Russi. In the cockpit, the pilots kept the rotor blades turning. The commotion would create a sense of urgency, making it less likely that the guerrillas would closely examine the delegates' credentials. The running engines would also allow for a faster getaway. The pilots could follow the action through a microphone hidden inside the TV camera, and if the rebels discovered the deception, Russi would tip off the pilots so they could at least save themselves.
Russi approached FARC commander Cesar and his cruel deputy, known as Enrique Gafas. Cesar smiled and extended his hand. The fake news team shot video of the rebels and pestered Cesar for an interview. The TV crew's role was to distract the guerrillas and prevent them from concentrating on the events playing out before them.
The hostages looked on in disgust. The agents were joking with the rebels and two of them wore Che Guevara T-shirts. They seemed like FARC-loving lefties.
The final indignity came when the strange visitors insisted on securing the wrists of the hostages with plastic tie-wraps. It was a calculated effort to convince Cesar and Gafas that they wouldn't be attacked by the hostages once on board the helicopter. But the outraged hostages refused to cooperate. The army agents were taken aback. In their rush to placate the guerrillas, the agents had provoked a full-blown mutiny among the very people they were trying to save.
Russi began scolding the hostages. If they didn't want to cooperate, they could stay on the ground for all he cared. The problem was that most of the prisoners seemed prepared to do just that. As the argument grew louder, the fake Australian delegate noticed Keith, Marc, and Tom off to one side. Maybe the gringos would listen to reason. He pleaded with the Americans to collaborate.
"Do you want to go home?" he said. "Do you want to see your family? Please, please trust me. I'm going to get you home."
"I can only see good with a helicopter," Tom said later. "We hadn't been in a helicopter in five and a half years. We'd been in the bottom of boats, on mules, on foot. It all looked good to me."
The logjam was broken. Following the Americans' lead the rest of the hostages agreed to be handcuffed then boarded the helicopter. Cesar and Gafas were directed to sit between the disguised army agents. Then, with the doorway ladder still hanging down, the MI-17 lifted into the air. The army agents had been on the ground for exactly 22 minutes.
Now, it was time for Act Three.
On cue, one of the fake nurses in the aisle pretended to be knocked off balance. She landed in Cesar's lap. "Like a gentleman," she said, "he caught me and then said, 'You can ride with me.'" The phony medic then leaned into the guerrilla, asking him if he had ever flown on a helicopter. With Cesar deep in conversation, the nurse extracted herself from his lap. Then, another agent, a former boxer, moved in for the knockout. He punched the guerrilla in the throat and bashed his head against the wall of the helicopter three times. At the other end of the aircraft, the fake Arab and the cameraman wrestled Gafas to the floor.
At first, the hostages were baffled. But when they saw Cesar and Gafas incapacitated, Keith, who had worked his hands free from his tie-wraps, couldn't resist. He and several other hostages pounced on Cesar, and Keith slugged him in the eye.
The helicopter was heading for home. Fifteen lives had been saved. With their mission accomplished, Russi turned to the now former hostages, smiled, and in nine curt words announced their deliverance.
"We are the Colombian Army, and you are free!"
(Another excerpt from John Otis' Law of the Jungle can be found here.)
From Law of the Jungle: The Hunt for Colombian Guerrillas, American Hostages and Buried Treasure. Copyright © 2010 by John Otis. Published by William Morrow.