Betancourt reunited with children

Ex-hostage Ingrid Betancourt, rescued from leftist rebels in a stunning Colombian military operation after six years in captivity, was reunited with her children on Thursday.

Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen and former presidential candidate, had been held in jungle hide-outs by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, and was the group's best-known captive.

Betancourt's two young adult children - Lorenzo and Melanie - flew into Bogota from Paris on Thursday morning.

"What I'm feeling now is something very close to paradise," Betancourt told reporters on the runway, hugging her children tightly.

Betancourt was rescued by the Colombian military on Wednesday along with three Americans and 11 other hostages long held by the FARC.

The bloodless rescue operation, which involved tricking the rebels, was a severe blow to Latin America's oldest left-wing insurgency and a coup for President Alvaro Uribe, an anti-guerrilla hard-liner whose father was killed in a botched FARC kidnapping two decades ago.

The rescue shored up investor confidence in Uribe, a U.S. ally who is hugely popular at home for his drive against the FARC and his free-market policies to foster investment and economic growth.

The local peso currency rose 2.8 percent in early Thursday trade as investors registered increased political confidence in Colombia, local traders said. Colombian stocks also surged.

The rescue further weakened the negotiating position of the FARC, which was already reeling after the death of three top leaders this year.

The three Americans, defence contractors Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes, were flown to the United States after five years in captivity.

Eleven kidnapped soldiers and police also were released after the 22-minute rescue operation in the southern jungle province of Guaviare. Colombia said the mission involved infiltration of rebel leadership and soldiers acting as aid workers who supposedly were going to transport the hostages to a FARC commander's camp.

"It was an intelligence operation comparable with the greatest epics of human history but without a drop of blood being spilled, without one weapon being fired," Uribe said.

The FARC, considered a terrorist organization by U.S. and European officials, still holds hundreds of other hostages, some of whom have been held for a decade. It wants to swap 25 high-profile captives for jailed guerrilla fighters but is arguing with the government over the terms of an exchange.

Betancourt, who was kidnapped while campaigning for the presidency in 2002, had not been seen since a rebel video last year in which she appeared gaunt and depressed in a jungle camp. The video provoked outrage as former hostages told how she had been chained after repeated escape attempts.

TOUGHER NEGOTIATIONS

The freed Americans all worked for Northrop Grumman and were captured in 2003 after their light aircraft crashed in the jungles during a counternarcotics operation.

Hours after their release, they were flown to San Antonio and taken to Fort Sam Houston, an Army post.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a self-styled socialist revolutionary who has been at odds with Uribe over his support for the rebels, called the Colombian leader to congratulate him on the successful operation, Venezuelan state television said.

The FARC had been pressured to negotiate after Chavez, its closest political ally, urged it last month to end the war.

Analysts said Wednesday's dramatic rescue increased the pressure on the outlawed rebel army.

"The only option left for the FARC is to take a more political approach to the Colombian government," said Pablo Casas, an analyst at Bogota think tank Security and Democracy.

"They will have to change their approach based on the success of Uribe's military policies. Even Chavez says they should stop their use of kidnapping and other violent strategies," Casas said.

Others said the humiliation of the rescue could drive the guerrillas to be more violent in an bid to regain military credibility.

The FARC wants Uribe to pull back troops from an area the size of New York City to facilitate hostage talks. But Uribe offers a smaller safe haven under international observation.

The outlawed rebel army, once a 17,000-member force able to attack cities, has been driven back into remote areas and now has about 9,000 combatants.