Posted on 09/19/2003 1:13:12 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Guarded by hundreds of armed rebels deep in a malaria-infested jungle, three American captives pass the time playing with a homemade deck of cards and dreaming of their families. The threat of death always hangs nearby.
The three U.S. military contractors have been cut off from the outside world since their capture by rebels seven months ago. That isolation was broken when a Colombian journalist traveled for days over rough roads and jungle rivers with a rebel escort to interview them July 25 in remote southern Colombia.
"They were nervous, and there were traces of fear on their faces," freelance reporter Jorge Enrique Botero said in an interview with The Associated Press of the three, Tom Howes, Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell.
They are the first U.S. military contractors to be captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in Colombia's 39-year guerrilla war. Washington has long been providing military aid to halt cocaine production controlled by the rebels and their paramilitary foes, and recently began training and providing intelligence for counterinsurgency operations.
Howes, Stansell and Gonsalves were reportedly working for Pentagon contractor California Microwave Systems when their single-engine plane crash-landed in FARC-controlled territory on Feb. 13. The rebels allegedly executed a fourth American, Tom Janis, and a Colombian soldier, Sgt. Luis Alcides Cruz, who also were aboard.
The three Americans - considered prisoners of war by the FARC - slept in an 18-by-18-foot wooden hut in beds fashioned from branches, Botero said Thursday.
"There is always a guard five yards away from them," he said. "Any rescue attempt will end with their deaths."
Howes and Gonsalves fought boredom by playing cards made from notebook paper and said they longed for a radio. Having one "would be medicine for the soul," Howes said.
They knew nothing of America's war in Iraq until Botero handed them a news magazine.
"They didn't know that Saddam was gone," Botero said. "They had no idea about what has been happening in the world."
Photographs Botero took of the men showed them appearing healthy and clean-cut, except for Gonsalves, who wore a goatee. Stansell's hair was cropped into a flattop.
The men wore camouflage uniforms provided by the rebels, which would hamper rescuers from distinguishing friend from foe. In the photos, rebels wielding Kalashnikov assault rifles stood behind the men.
Botero said Howes, who at 50 is the eldest of the captives and has a young son with his Peruvian wife, spent a lot of time reflecting on his priorities.
"He is redesigning his list of values," Botero said. "He says the real treasure is the family."
A rebel commander told the Americans their only hope for freedom would be an exchange of hostages held by the rebels for imprisoned guerrillas. If President Alvaro Uribe rejects an exchange, the Americans face years in captivity, said the commander, who goes by the nom de guerre Alfredo.
Colombian troops and U.S. Special Forces have found no trace of the Americans in seven months of searching.
If they are ever located, U.S. officials say Colombian soldiers would carry out any rescue attempt. Washington is reluctant to further broaden U.S. military involvement in Colombia.
Botero said the three made clear they want to be freed through a prisoner exchange and not a rescue. "I asked them, what do you think of the word 'rescue?' And the three said, "Death. Death. Death,'" he recalled. "The three reject that path."
The U.S. Embassy issued a statement Friday saying the United States seeks "to obtain the safe release of the American hostages without making concessions to the terrorists holding them."
Botero said the Americans recounted their capture after the engine of their U.S. government Cessna cut out at 14,000 feet and crash-landed in a clearing in southern Caqueta state.
According to Botero, the Americans told him the pilots, Howes and Janis, were knocked unconscious in the crash. Stansell - who had two broken ribs - Gonsalves and Cruz crawled out and tried to pull the pilots from the plane, afraid it might explode. They then saw rebels closing in.
"The Colombian shouted, 'The FARC! The FARC! Let's go!' But (Gonsalves and Stansell) said, 'No, first we'll get our friends out,'" Botero said. "They got the pilots out, and when they finished doing so, the guerrillas arrived."
The rebels captured all five but separated the three from Janis and Cruz, the captives recounted to Botero. They later learned they had been killed. Stansell said they were too afraid to ask the guerrillas how Janis and Cruz had died.
Their bullet-riddled bodies were later recovered, and the U.S. and Colombian governments have accused the FARC of executing them.
The FARC and a smaller leftist rebel army have been waging war on the Colombian government for nearly 40 years. About 3,500 people, mainly civilians, die in the fighting each year.
Botero, who has known some senior FARC commanders since they studied together in the former Soviet Union, will publish his account on the Americans in a Colombian magazine next week.
The AP purchased Botero's photographs of the American captives for international distribution.
He is also trying to sell a video he shot of the captured Americans to a U.S. television network. The FBI previously confirmed it has obtained copies of part of the video, apparently from an American producer.
The AP purchased Botero's photographs of the American captives for international distribution.
He is also trying to sell a video he shot of the captured Americans to a U.S. television network. The FBI previously confirmed it has obtained copies of part of the video, apparently from an American producer.
What a guy. A journalist who studied in the Soviet Union with a pack of leftwing terrorists... now why doesn't that shock me?
The U.S. Embassy issued a statement Friday saying the United States seeks "to obtain the safe release of the American hostages without making concessions to the terrorists holding them."
Wonder why it is that Jimmuh Carter and Jessie Jackson haven't put a little pressure on their leftwing buddies to get a nice PR release? Used to be Jessie was always first on the scene.
Stay Safe !
Stay Safe !
Great movie about this subject: PROOF OF LIFE.
Stay Safe !
------ "Colombian captured," Notes from the Pentagon, Inside the Ring, February 13, 2004, http://www.gertzfile.com/gertzfile/ring021304.html
The United States hopes the recent capture of the guerrilla drug king known as "Sonia" may shed some light on the fate of three Americans held hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Sonia (real name Nayibe Rojas) was the cocaine and finance chief in the Caqueta area of southern Colombia.
Said a defense source, "As a senior leader in that region, she is likely aware of where our guys are, disposition of enemy forces, etc. In addition, her capture will put a big dent in the FARC's ability to generate cash from coca."
A new U.S.-trained Colombian special-operations unit has scored a string of successes in recent months as it corners and kills or captures top leaders of FARC, a terrorist organization that indiscriminately kills military personnel and civilians, and deals in the international cocaine trade.
We reported earlier this year that a rescue mission would be next to impossible at this point to rescue three American contractors captured when their plane was shot down. The FARC moves the hostages frequently. At base camps, FARC operators set up multiple rings of defense.
That guard is just right eye , left eye bait for a US sniper(s) who'll turn off his motors quiet nicely if the opportunity should arise.
ping
The movie "Proof of Life" gives a pretty good idea of what their life must be like.
Miserable.
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