Colombian President Uribe Forced by Video Evidence to Admit that the Colombian Military Illegally Used the Red Cross Emblem in their Fake "Rescue" Operation

A few days ago, the Concerned Citizens of irc.indymedia.org (you can click here to talk with us directly) published a detailed examination of the news regarding the "operation to rescue" Ingrid Betancourt and a group of United States mercenaries who were being held prisoner by Colombia's socialist resistance, FARC.

You can read the article in English: The Real Operation to "Rescue" Ingrid Betancourt and US Mercenaries
Or, you can read the article in Portuguese: A verdadeira operacão de "Resgate" de Ingrid Betancourt e os Mercenários America

These articles suggested that, in fact, this "Hollywood-style rescue operation" was not a stunning display of Colombia's James Bond abilities but was political theater based around a $20 million pay-off to FARC. Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia's Defense Minister, strongly denied that any such pay-off took place.

Well, then reports started to surface that the Colombian government had violated international law under the Geneva Conventions by using the Red Cross emblem during their military operation, fake operation or not. Juan Manuel Santos, in a press conference, categorically denied committing a war crime by using the Red Cross emblem and insisted that such a thing did not happen.

Unfortunately, the "sophisticated" and "mastermind" intelligence team that pulled off this amazing operation weren't clever enough to cover up their war crime! This almost superhuman covert ops team bungled the handling of the video camera and filmed evidence of their own war crime. And now, Uribe is forced to admit that he LIED, Juan Manuel Santos LIED and their incompetent covert ops team couldn't even operate a video camera in a clandestine fashion. The news is everywhere. In front of the whole world, the Colombian government committed a war crime, then tried to cover it up, then were forced by their own video evidence to admit that they lied. The real question is: who handled the video camera, was it 007 or 009?

Furthermore, let's see if we can detect a pattern. Colombia was accused of committing a war crime and illegally using the Red Cross emblem in a military operation. They were caught lying and had to admit it. Also, Colombia was accused of paying off FARC for the release of the prisoners. But there's no video evidence of that. But who do you trust now?

The long-standing international law that military operatives are not permitted to use Red Cross emblems saves lives: it preserves the sanctity of this emblem so that medical personnel can gain access to wounded civilians in war zones. Violating this core Geneva Convention agreement is yet another in a long list of war crimes and violations of human rights by the Colombian Government and the right-wing terrorists that they support.