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Freed Hostages Describe Harsh Treatment by FARC - WSJ

Freed Hostages Describe Harsh Treatment by FARC
By RUSSELL GOLD
July 8, 2008; Page A3

SAN ANTONIO -- In their first public appearance since being rescued from captivity in the Colombian jungle, three U.S. military contractors provided a brief, chilling picture of their 5½ years as hostages.

Reuters
Marc Gonsalves, left, one of the three U.S. defense contractors recently freed from capture, referred to FARC as "Terrorists with a capital T."

Detainees of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were sometimes chained around their necks like dogs and forced at gunpoint to march while carrying heavy backpacks, said Marc Gonsalves, one of the freed hostages.

Less than a week after a daring rescue by the Colombian military, the men and their families appeared in public at a military ceremony looking slender but otherwise healthy. The three -- Mr. Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes -- were captured by the FARC in 2003 after their plane crashed while on an antidrug mission. All three were employed by Northrop Grumman Corp.

The most outspoken of the three, Mr. Gonsalves, excoriated the FARC as drug-dealing terrorists, profusely thanking the Colombian military and urging action to free the remaining hostages, giving his statement in both English and Spanish.

"They say they want equality. They say they just want to make Colombia a better place. But that is all a lie," Mr. Gonsalves said. "It's a cover story, and they hide behind it, and they use it to justify their criminal activity. The FARC are not revolutionaries. They are terrorists. Terrorists with a capital T."

Poor, illiterate children were forcibly recruited and then threatened with death if they tried to leave, Mr. Gonsalves said, adding that he saw babies denied medical care.

His statements bolster the view of both the U.S. and European Union, which consider the FARC a terrorist group that funds itself through drug trafficking and kidnapping.

The men spoke at Brooke Army Medical Center, where they have been undergoing medical treatment, psychological counseling and intelligence debriefings by the U.S. military. Military officials said the men's stay at the hospital was voluntary and that they had no immediate plans to leave.

The stories the men told as part of a therapeutic process of grappling with their experience "could be of immediate assistance" to the U.S. military, said Major Gen. Keith Huber, a top official of the Army in South America.

The three arrived late Wednesday in San Antonio. The Colombia military had bluffed the rebels, convincing them the detainees would be transferred to another FARC camp. A total of 15 hostages were freed, including Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate who also holds French citizenship.

While the Americans were out of the public eye in a secure military facility during the long holiday weekend, Ms. Betancourt has been giving interviews, has held meetings with government officials in France and has reportedly signed a deal to write a play.

By contrast, the three Americans have been largely incommunicado, except for a brief statement on July 4 in which they thanked the U.S. and Colombian militaries and Northrop Grumman. They called their rescue "one for the history books."

The 30-minute appearance was marked by frequent applause from the U.S. uniformed service members in attendance, family hugs and frequent thumbs up from the former hostages.

There were even moments of levity. Mr. Stansell directed a question to the governor of Florida, where he lives, for help with a bureaucratic catch-22. "I don't have a driver's license" he said jokingly. "How am I going to get home?"

By tejasmarcos on Jul 8, 2008, 05:57 in Friendly Talkzone.

Mononoke28 says on Jul 8, 2008, 09:02:

What???? Is this true? I never heard of this. =(

Diana

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