Hostages' release 'joyous,' Bush says

WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- The rescue of 15 hostages, including three Americans, held by Colombian insurgents is a "joyous occasion," U.S. President George Bush said Thursday.

Bush said he spoke with President Alvaro Uribe, telling him "what a joyous occasion it must be to know that the plan had worked, that people who were unjustly held were now free to be with their families."

The three American hostages were kidnapped by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in 2003.

Government officials used old-fashioned spy trickery to secure the hostages' release, CNN reported. Agents spent months gaining entry into FARC, earning the rebels' trust and working their way up the power chain.

The confederates used the authority they'd gained to order the hostages moved from three separate locations to one central area deep in the Colombian jungle. In a setup that could have come from a Hollywood script, the moles convinced the real rebels that an international humanitarian agency would visit the hostages, Gen. Freddy Padilla de Leon told CNN. A helicopter manned by disguised government agents spirited the hostages away from the real FARC militants for their "meeting."

"We convinced the FARC that they were talking to those of their own," said Gen. Mario Montoya of the Colombian army. "It was all human intelligence."