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Hostages cite intolerable conditions

Published: July 11, 2008 at 7:43 AM

The three American contractors rescued from the Colombian jungle cited gruesome living conditions but found missing their families hardest to take. Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes kept small items as reminders of the 5 1/2 years they spent away from their families, cut off from the world outside of the jungle, seeing only fellow hostages and their captors, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, CNN reported. Stansell described his captors as "animals." "They don't recognize humanity, they don't recognize human rights," he said. The men described months in which they were ordered not to speak to each other, living in intolerable conditions, forced to march in chains. Thoughts of home and family sustained them, they said. In a CNN interview in San Antonio, Texas, Stansell showed off a heavy industrial lock which secured chains around their necks at night.

Gonsalves displayed small wooden chess pawns he had carved out of wood with a broken piece of a machete enabling them to play chess though chained. Howes carried a bullet from a commander who had threatened to kill him. FARC had held the trio captive since February 2003 after their plane crashed in a remote region of the South American country. They were among 15 hostages rescued last week in a surprise Colombian military operation.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/07/11/Hostages_cite_intolerable_condi...

By tasco66 on Jul 11, 2008, 05:55 in Politics & the war.

tasco66 says on Jul 11, 2008, 06:05:

How come we never saw any human right activist complaining about these conditions?

Bravo, Presidente Uribe for the perfect operation!

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aztec says on Jul 11, 2008, 06:18:

tasco66, You are joking? Or is that just a rhetorical question?

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ColombianoGringo says on Jul 11, 2008, 08:38:

Don't you know that all crimes against humanity are absolved if they are committed for a revolution of "the people"? In this case, "the people" are a bunch of drug dealing terrorists, but don't forget that they are doing all this for the campesinos.

Yeaaaah. That's the ticket!

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Lcacique says on Jul 11, 2008, 11:55:

tasco66: How come we never saw any human right activist complaining about these conditions?

to which aztec replies: tasco66, You are joking? Or is that just a rhetorical question?

Well boys, my passion for Colombia didn't arise because I wanted to take advantage of the economic situation in Colombia so as to have sexual relations with women that were much younger than me nor did I travel there looking for a docile/traditional wife (not saying this is the case for either of you). I fell in love with the people and as a result I became deeply concerned about the human rights situation in the country. Throughout all of these years of being obsessed and passionate about Colombia, I have met and heard from thousands of human rights activists that speak out loudly against the FARC. All of the NGOs that I am familiar with are no different.

“The FARC had been holding these people hostage for years, in some of the {MOST MISERABLE} and [INHUMANE CONDITIONS]," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s wonderful that these hostages will finally rejoin their families."

"'We must not, however, forget the hundreds of other civilians still being held, mainly by the FARC and the National Liberation Army (ELN), which must release all of them immediately and unconditionally, as well as commit to put an immediate end to all kidnapping and hostage-taking', Amnesty International said.

All those held captive must be treated humanely, regardless of whether these are civilians or members of the security forces."

"We of the Colombia Support Network are outraged at the murder by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) of a Japanese citizen, Chikao Muramatsu, whom they had kidnapped some two years ago. We understand he was the only Japanese citizen in the world in the hands of kidnappers. As we have in the past, we again protest in the strongest terms the FARC's practice of kidnapping innocent persons to hold them for ransom or for exchange for imprisoned members of the FARC. This practice violates the norms of human conduct and the requirements of International Humanitarian Law. It also casts serious doubt upon the commitment to principles of justice and human dignity which the FARC 's leadership has said on many occasions the organization embodies.

We call upon the FARC to desist immediately from this inhumane and criminal conduct and to identify and present for punishment those who carried out the assassination of Mr. Muramatsu. We express our sincerest sympathies to the Muramatsu family, victim of this murderous conduct of the FARC."

These are just as couple of quick examples...If some activists or organizations focus on the military and/or paramilitary, I think it primarily has to do with the fact that you can influence these two groups. Change can happen more easily with these groups because the military is subject to laws and because the paramilitary supposedly aligns (or aligned) itself with the state. The guerrillas are not as easily influenced by public opinion. Having said that, that doesn't mean that human rights activists are not equally disturbed and angered by the crimes committed by the guerrillas.

Hoy se nota en la floresta un ambiente de alegría. ¡Y el rumor de ranchería es mas dulce y sabe a fiesta!

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dwmte7 says on Jul 11, 2008, 16:48:

bravo, cacique....let's hear it for the voice of sanity....here, here.

dwmte

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