Considerable publicity has been given to the news that the International Red Cross protested before the government of Colombia because during operation “Jaque”, which rescued fifteen hostages held by the FARC, one of the members of the military mission wore on top of his vest a piece of cloth with the insignia of the International Committee of the Red Cross, something that is forbidden for those who are not members of the relief group. The friends and partisans of FARC – perhaps with some exceptions – are exaggerating the incident in an effort to discredit the “Jaque” operation with no serious arguments, even although it was something that was not allowed. What happened was the decision made by one person who, fearing that the guerrillas would kill the hostages or perhaps the rescue team, wore the logo for his personal protections and perhaps to give the impression that the whole group also belonged to the organization.

The President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, who is a full-fledged President, assumed responsibility for the incident about which he said that “An officer mistakenly and contrary to orders... because of his nervousness around the helicopter, put on top of his vest a bib with the logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross.” Wednesday morning, President Uribe added that as President of the Republic, commander in chief of the armed forces and “responsible for the ‘Jaque’ operation, I assume responsibility for this mistake and request that it be taken into consideration that it was not an attack operation, but a rescue, that it was an operation where it was decided not to fire a single shot.”

Whoever analyzes these events without bias, without trying to justify the terrorists and protect them with undeserved favorable considerations, has to agree that it was something unfortunate, but that in way justifies discrediting the important achievement, the heroic, intelligent, prudent, operation undertaken by the Colombian military and police following orders of that full-fledged President whose name is Alvaro Uribe.

The International Red Cross, although condemning what happened has the moral duty to accept the excuses presented, with dignity, by the Colombian government through the highest levels of its civil, military and police authorities on behalf of President Uribe, and it has done so. A spokesman for the International Red Cross, Florian Westphal, said in Geneva this Thursday that the organization accepts President Uribe’s explanation. The cause of justice is represented by operation “Jaque”, which must be respected and applauded by the free world.