Posted on 08/28/2003 3:11:39 PM PDT by yonif
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - The FBI has obtained a videotape of three apparently healthy Defense Department contractors captured by Colombian rebels when their light aircraft crashed in February, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
The tape, which was obtained by a television documentary maker and handed over to the FBI as evidence, shows the three clean-shaven American men inside what appears to be a house, one official told Reuters.
The video is the first proof of life for the three men since they were captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia when their Cessna crashed on a rugged hillside on a mission spying out drug crops used to make cocaine.
It was not clear when or by whom the tape was made, but the FBI acquired it recently.
The rebel army, known by its Spanish initials FARC, wants to swap the men, whom it calls "gringo CIA agents" it has taken as "prisoners of war," for guerrillas held in Colombian government prisons. The FARC said its fighters shot the plane down, a charge denied by the United States and Colombian military, although a Reuters reporter at the crash site saw about 10 bullet holes in the right wing.
The men appeared "prepped for the camera" in the tape, one official said.
U.S. officials said the men were civilians contracted by the Defense Department to assist Colombia's anti-cocaine fight, which has received more than $2 billion in mainly military U.S. aid in recent years.
Local people said FARC guerrillas killed two other crew members who struggled from the Cessna's wreckage and were later identified as an American Vietnam veteran and a Colombian army sergeant.
Thousands of Colombian troops, supported by fast Black Hawk helicopters and some U.S. Special Forces, combed the jungles and plains of the southern Colombian province of Caqueta to look for the men for weeks after they disappeared.
The trail seems to have gone cold, but a top U.S. counterterrorism official said on Wednesday the United States would never give up the search.
"As long as they are alive, we will never give up," said J. Cofer Black, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, at a meeting with reporters on Wednesday. He said the United States would not negotiate with the FARC, which it calls a "terrorist group."
The FARC has included the men in a group of about 50 hostages it wants to exchange for prisoners.
The rebels killed 10 of their hostages when Colombian troops staged a botched rescue attempt in thick jungle in May. A recent video showed other prisoners, some held for more than five years in secret jungle prison camps plagued by malarial mosquitoes.
-Time to kick the tires & light the fires, folks- terrorism gathers across the World...--
Colombia's leftist rebels unite against government–Cuban trained ELN; Marxist FARC***The country's two main groups announced a military alliance against the government on Monday……….The war cry comes in the midst of escalating violence in certain regions. On Monday, at least five people died, including a 1-year-old boy, when the FARC allegedly planted a bomb on a dock in Meta. The Cano-Limon oil pipeline in the eastern province of Arauca, where US Green Berets are training Colombian antiterror troops, was bombed this weekend for the 20th time this year. And earlier this month, the FARC allegedly detonated a car bomb in the town of Saravena in Arauca, killing four civilians, including two children. ***
Colombia sends message to rebels via Venezuela [Full Text] BOGOTA, Colombia, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe said on Wednesday he had asked Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to pass a message to leftist guerrillas that he is willing to start peace talks. Uribe's comments are the first time the Colombian president has publicly suggested a link between the left-leaning Chavez and the Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish initials FARC.
Relations between Bogota and Caracas have been strained periodically over accusations by the Colombian military that Chavez is letting FARC rebels use Venezuela as a staging ground for attacks. In February, Colombia's interior minister accused Chavez of meeting "frequently" with FARC rebels, but was publicly reprimanded by Uribe after Venezuela threatened to break off diplomatic relations. Chavez, who has criticized Colombia's U.S.-backed "Plan Colombia" offensive against drug-traffickers and guerrillas, denies he is collaborating with the guerrillas, who are described as "terrorists" by Washington.
"Last week I told Chavez: 'President, stop worrying so much about Colombia's security policies. Tell the FARC that if they are bored with our policies, they can negotiate with me in five minutes'," Uribe told a university audience in Bogota. Colombian media have alleged that Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, the top FARC commander, has been hiding in neighboring Venezuela since the Colombian government broke off peace talks with the rebel group in February 2002. Uribe, a close U.S. ally in the war on drugs who took office in August 2002, has launched an offensive against the 17,000-strong FARC, which originated 39 years ago in a peasant uprising. He has said he will only negotiate peace with rebels if they agree to a cease-fire. On Sunday, FARC guerrillas fired assault rifles as Uribe's helicopter flew into a village in northern Colombia. [End]
In a letter to President Clinton, the League stated that any decision granting clemency to 16 members of the group would undermine the administration’s long-held commitment to deal strongly with terrorists and to pursue justice for their victims.***
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.