Freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt reunited with children in Colombia

"What I'm feeling now is something very close to paradise," Betancourt told reporters gathered at the airport for the emotional reunion one day after the rescue. "It was because of them that I kept up my will to get out of the jungle."

The slender Betancourt, 46, who holds joint Colombian and French citizenship, hastened to the stairs of a French government plane that brought her two children, Lorenzo, 19, and Melanie, 22. She threw her arms around the pair and spoke of missing so much of their lives.

"The last time I saw my son, Lorenzo was a little kid and I could carry him around," Betancourt said. "They're going to have to put up with me now, because I'm going to be stuck to them like chewing gum."

Savoring her first morning of freedom, Betancourt also took time to visit the church that holds the remains of her father, who died while she was held by leftist rebels.

Her return has caused a kind of euphoria in Colombia as citizens of all stripes celebrate her liberation and the latest blow to the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, which are deeply unpopular and now largely confined to their jungle redoubts.

Praise kept pouring in worldwide for the daring rescue operation, in which the military tricked the rebels into handing over their most high-profile hostages -- Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors -- in addition to 11 other hostages. Not a shot was fired in the operation.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a rival of pro-U.S. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, was among those who applauded the operation.

"We are overjoyed at the liberation of those people," Chavez said today.

Chavez has been accused of aiding the FARC, but he was also a broker in an earlier round of hostage releases.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

chris.kraul@latimes.com