On July 2, 2008, a helicopter carrying more than a dozen disguised commandos landed in the jungles of southern Colombia. Masquerading as journalists and humanitarian aid workers, the military operatives set out to rescue 15 hostages held for years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group.
FARC members enthusiastically greeted the helicopter, mistakenly believing it had been sent to transfer the hostages—among them, a former presidential candidate, American military contractors and Colombian soldiers—to another one of the rebel group’s camps. Once in the air, the commandos disarmed FARC leader Gerardo Aguilar Ramírez (known by the nom de guerre César) and his bodyguard, who’d accompanied the captives on board. After months of covert planning, the Colombian military had successfully rescued the detainees, completing the mission in less than half an hour—without firing a gun or shedding blood.
