|
The stunning rescue of Ingrid
Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors owed its success not just
to artful deception, but also to a five-year U.S.-Colombian operation that
choked their captors' ability to communicate.Known as "Alliance," it began
with a satellite phone call in 2003, just weeks after the Americans' surveillance
plane crashed in the southern Colombian jungle, according to U.S. and Colombian
investigators and court documents.The call came from Nancy Conde, the regional
finance and supply chief for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,
or FARC, whose boyfriend would become the American hostages' jailer. She
was calling confederates in Miami to see if they could supply the rebels
with some satellite phones.What Conde didn't know was that state security
agents were listening.U.S. law officers arrested the Miami contacts, who
in exchange for promises of reduced sentences put Conde in touch with an
FBI front company, according to a U.S. law enforcement official involved
in the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security
reasons.Over more than four years, that company provided wiretapped satphones
and other compromised telecommunications equipment that threw the rebels
off balance and eventually helped authorities strangle their supply lines.The
operation laid crucial groundwork for the brazen July 2 commando rescue
of 15 hostages held by a rebel unit that Conde supplied, the biggest blow
ever dealt to the FARC.In all, U.S. and Colombian agents intercepted more
than 5,000 rebel phone conversations, investigators told The Associated
Press.They allegedly heard Conde and her coconspirators negotiate shipments
of everything from assault rifles to condoms for distribution to about
a third of the FARC's estimated 9,000 fighters, including the 1st Front
that held the hostages."We're not talking just about finances, communications
equipment, food and weapons — but also medical supplies, medicines and
people who cared directly for the wounded," said Luis Ernesto Tamayo, the
security official who ran the Colombian side of the operation. He wouldn't
say whether hostages were discussed in any of the intercepted conversations.Many
of the calls went to a rebel "call center" in the gateway city of Villavicencio,
where radio communications from the jungle were relayed to international
phone circuits.It was in Villavicencio that Conde, 35, allegedly operated
several front companies. Located where the Andes mountains open out onto
Colombia's southeastern plains, the city's airport was a key conduit to
airstrips in rebel-dominated zones.In addition to Miami — a major shopping
destination for Latin Americans — she had suppliers and buyers in at least
seven countries and territories including Brazil, Venezuela and the three
Guyanas, the U.S. investigator said. The FARC units operating in her area
were major cocaine exporters."A big part of the business was drugs for
arms," the American official said.Conde allegedly acquired supplies that
ran the gamut from death-delivering devices to personal beauty accessories,
according to Colombian and U.S. court documents.They included: Two
ICOM V-8 military-grade portable radios,20 high-tech compasses and assorted
GPS devices,350 satellite phone minutes from the United States, Rifles,
rifle scopes, pistols, shotguns, bomb fuses and ammunition, Instruments
"for surgery and body reconstruction."On Feb. 2, authorities pounced on
Conde, arresting her as she entered Colombia from Venezuela, where she'd
gone to give birth. They rounded up a total of 39 alleged members of her
supply and communications network, including three doctors — one of them
a 61-year-old Cuban — and two of Conde's three female deputies.The arrests,
which began in 2006, notably included the capture of Jose Maria Corredor
at a jungle camp. He allegedly shipped in hundreds of assault rifles from
Venezuela in exchange for cocaine."With this operation we neutralized a
great deal of the (rebels') logistical and financial support," Tamayo said.So
much were rebel supply lines squeezed that Betancourt could notice it in
captivity.She said upon being rescued that over the past year, "we've eaten
very little, with very little variation in the food," adding that there
was trouble getting boots and underwear. "Logistics could be in trouble,"
she said.News coverage of Conde's arrest — the army chief was widely quoted
as saying she was wanted for extradition to the United States — almost
certainly prompted her boyfriend, hostage jailer Gerardo Aguilar, to seriously
limit if not shun radio communications, officials say.Conde and 10 others
had been indicted in the District of Columbia in September on charges of
conspiracy to provide support to a foreign terrorist organization. The
group included Aguilar, alias "Cesar," and Alexander Farfan, alias "Enrique
Gafas," both of whom were captured in the July 2 rescue mission and also
face charges of hostage-taking and terrorism.The United States is seeking
their extradition.The U.S. indictment, unsealed in February, says "Cesar"
and "Enrique Gafas" had the three Americans in their custody at least as
early as 2006.(Washingtonpost
10/7/08)
|
