American spy planes carrying sophisticated jamming equipment blocked frantic attempts by a Colombian rebel commander to contact his superiors about last week’s hostage handover, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. Gerardo Aguilar Ramírez, known to Ingrid Betancourt and her fellow captives by his alias, César, wanted to confirm orders delivered by hand to him by courier to transfer the hostages to a “humanitarian” mission arriving by helicopter on Wednesday. The jamming operation, high above the Amazonian rainforest canopy, was the key, final element in an elaborate plan to hoodwink César into surrendering the communist rebels’ most prized assets: the former presidential candidate Ms Betancourt, 46, three American defence contractors and 11 Colombians.
