Word: rebel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...FARC had taken the bait. Through an ingenious electronic hoax, Colombian Army agents, mimicking rebel radio operators, had convinced the guerrillas to allow "international aid workers" to check the health of the 15 hostages then transfer them to another FARC camp on helicopters. But to pull it off, the army would have to put together a convincing mise...
...plane carrying three U.S. military contractors crash-landed in rebel territory in southern Colombia. The survivors - Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes - were taken hostage by fierce Marxist guerrillas the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, better known by the Spanish acronym FARC. It would take five years, and the help of billions of dollars in U.S. aid, before commandos of the Colombian Army were able to launch a daring, Mission: Impossible-style sting operation in a bid to save the hostages. Colombian planners of the July 2008 operation were probably keen to avoid the fate of the earliest rescue attempt...
There was no question that the money was the evil lucre of rebel drug deals, extortion rackets, and ransom payments made by the desperate relatives of hostages. By some estimates, such scams earned the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - the country's largest guerrilla army known as the FARC - $500 million annually. But knowing that these riches were tainted didn't stop Suárez. "I was so happy. I'd never seen so much money," he said. "It was like the Virgin had appeared before...
What's more, the rebel stash had already been stolen by gun-toting bandits performing cashectomies on the good people of Colombia. Rather than committing a crime, Sanabria reasoned, his men were performing a public good. They were cheating the cheaters out of money that would otherwise go toward grenades and guns, making the guerrillas stronger. Rather than being castigated, they ought to be decorated. There was also a sense among the troops that the cash was a serendipitous payoff for years of dangerous duty protecting the homeland. And if that wasn't enough, it was Easter week, the holiest...
...treasure hunt lasted three glorious, sleepless, elongated, excruciating days and nights. Then word crackled over the radio that fresh troops were moving in to replace nouveau-riche grunts. It wasn't exactly mission accomplished. But the soldiers felt giddy all the same. They had penetrated into a rebel rearguard position, outwitted the enemy, and kept themselves alive. Then there was the money. Sure, they had struck out in their search for Keith, Marc and Tom. But referring to the twenty-, fifty-, and hundred-dollar bills they'd dug up, Suárez pointed out they had already found three gringos...