Two days ago Ingrid Betancourt was chained up in the Colombian jungle with little to look forward to other than her seventh year in captivity.

Yesterday the most celebrated contemporary hostage in the world was reunited with her children after an audacious helicopter rescue devised by the Colombian military with the help of the US Central Intelligence Agency.

“Nirvana, paradise! That must be very similar to what I feel at this moment,” Ms Betancourt said as she kissed Lorenzo, 19, her son, and Melanie, 22, her daughter, on the French government plane that took them to Bogotá. “It was because of them that I kept up my will to get out of that jungle. The last time I saw my son, Lorenzo was a little kid and I could carry him around,” she said. “I told them they’re going to have to put up with me now because I’m going to be stuck to them like chewing gum.”

Surprisingly, for someone who was thought to be on the verge of death a few months ago, Ms Betancourt did nothing to dampen speculation that she would again run for the Colombian presidency.

Ms Betancourt, who has dual French-Colombian nationality, felt something was about to happen when she woke up at 4am on Wednesday in the stifling heat of the Colombian jungle.

“We had the expectation that perhaps one of us could be freed by an international commission,” after hearing talk on the radio, she said.

She never suspected that she would be rescued with 14 other captives in one of the most spectacular and daring operations ever conducted — without a shot being fired.

“There are no precedents for such a perfect operation,” Ms Betancourt said. “Perhaps the Israelis, with the reputation they have for such extraordinary commandos — perhaps only they can come close to the coup that we have seen today.”

The Colombian military spent months planning the operation, codenamed Jaque, or “Check”, for “Checkmate”. Its spies managed to infiltrate the rebel squadron holding the hostages, which the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) had been hoping to exchange for 500 of its fighters in Colombian prisons.

Although only Colombians took part in the rescue, William Brownfield, the US Ambassador in Bogotá, revealed “close” American involvement. He spoke of intelligence, equipment and training advice. Dana Perino, the White House press secretary said: “The rescue was long in the planning. We’ve been working with them for a long time. I’m not able to go into many specifics.”

The Colombian military managed to get spies inside Farc’s ruling secretariat — allowing it to issue a false order to round up the hostages, who were being kept in three separate groups, to see the new Farc leader, Antonio Cano.

“We arranged for the hostages to be picked up at a predetermined site by a helicopter belonging to a fictitious organisation,” said Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian Defence Minister.

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