Freed Hostages Condemn FARC

The joy of reuniting was also felt across the Atlantic Ocean. The three American hostages, freed from FARC captivity last Wednesday, appeared publicly on Monday. They by and large condemned the guerrillas and the maltreatment they were subjected to as their prisoners. Set free by Colombia’s secret services, they now fear for the safety of the other remaining hostages.

FARC’s hostages do not seem to suffer from Stockholm syndrome. After Ingrid Betancourt’s abundant declarations in the media last week, her fellow American companions spoke on Monday for the first time. Having spent more than five years in the hands of the guerrillas, they denounced the Marxist Colombian group and expressed their concern for the hostages who still remained in the jungle.

“They are not a revolutionary group. They are terrorists, terrorists with capital T,” poured forth Marc Gonsalves. An employee of Northrop Grumman Corp, he had been sent into Colombia on an anti-drug mission in February 2003, along with his two colleagues, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell. The plane that carried them had to make an emergency landing in the jungle, where FARC took them, killing the two other passengers in the plane. Their ordeal would only come to an end five years later. The three men were released with Ingrid Betancourt and eleven Colombians. “You say with words that you are no terrorists,” lashed out Gonsalves, addressing FARC, “You claim to be revolutionaries, but you are not. You are terrorists. Show us your words have any value and let the captives come home.”

Expected Reprisals

The three hostages described their liberators as heroes. Following Ingrid Betancourt’s example, the three Americans underscored the importance of external and particularly family, support for their survival “They are the reason why I am still alive and here in front of you”, stated Keith Stansell, speaking of his family. But for all their joy, the freed hostages expressed their fear that the hundreds of other hostages still retained in the jungle might be victims of reprisals, following their own liberation by the Colombian secret services.

“They will get up early tomorrow morning, they will force them to carry heavy sacks on their backs, and, with chains around their neck, a guerrilla carrying an automatic weapon will pull them along, as though they were dogs,” Marc Gonsalves foretells, as someone who personally experienced this sort of punishment during his detention. The American had a good grasp of the ideology of FARC. “They say they want equality, they say they want to make Colombia a better country, but they are just liars,” he charged. Marc Gonsalves also recounted how the guerrillas recruited children and teenagers for their cause. Some of these youngsters later came to regret their involvement but could not flee for fear of being killed, he explained. “I saw how their own guerrillas committed suicide in a desperate attempt to flee the slavery to which they were condemned by FARC.”

According to the doctors who had examined them on Wednesday, the three freed hostages, who lost nearly 14 kg, were in tolerable condition. They were taken to a medical centre upon their liberation. And noticeably, they did not lose their very American sense of humour. Keith Stansell inquired of the governor of Florida, his state of residence, “I don’t have a driver’s license. Sir, how am I going to get home?”. Happy ending.