Translation of Hostage Rescue Video
Courtesy of Fausta Wertz, here’s a translation of the video:Operation Check (as in chess): Images from Ingrid Betancourt’s rescue
13:23:00 [Voice off camera] “…from this side… hold…hold…backlighting…backlighting…”
13:24:00 [Reporter, now in front of camera, approaching man in long-sleeve t-shirt] “Commander, may I ask you only one question?”
[FARC commander] “No, no, there’s a rule and I’d be violating a rule.”
[Reporter] “Allow me, only one question. Only one question, yes?”
[FARC commander] “Ask me in the helicopter.” (chuckles)
[Reporter] “But it’ll be too noisy. Let me ask you a question, so it shows.”
[FARC commander] “No, it is…”
[Reporter] “Real easy one, Commander.”
[FARC commander] “It’s against the rules.”
[Reporter] “Commander, one question, please.”
[FARC commander, laughing] “No, it’d really be a mistake for me to give a…”
Video cuts him off.
Camera zooms to the hostages: man wearing black t-shirt, Ingrid Betancourt wearing hat, tall man in sleeveless t-shirt & baseball cap.
[Reporter, again off camera, while the tall man’s hands are tied] “…of prisoners at the hands of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces [i.e., the FARC]. the people’s army. We’ll have the chance to talk with the three Americans being held by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces. On politics, we can’t talk about politics. Get closer [to the tall man], get closer.”
13:27:30 [Tall man, getting closer to the camera] “Tell my family, my family, the whole world.” [gets taken away]
[Reporter] “On politics, we can’t broadcast, we can’t have the group of prisoners at the hands of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, we can’t…”
13:27:45 [Hostage with mustache, approaching reporter] “Yes, excuse me. I only have one thing to say: I have been chained for ten years. I am Lieutenant Malagon, of the glorious Colombian National Army, [voice breaks] kidnapped for many reasons by this