BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Ending six years of captivity by leftist rebels, four hostages in Colombia finally gained their freedom in a jungle clearing Wednesday when they were turned over to representatives of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the International Red Cross.
Four Colombians held hostage for 6 years are freed by rebels
February 28, 2008 at 2:49AM
Dressed in T-shirts and jungle boots and appearing reasonably healthy, former legislators Gloria Polanco, Orlando Beltran, Luis Eladio Perez and Jorge Eduardo Gechem met a helicopter-borne delegation that included the Venezuelan interior minister and a Colombian senator.
Venezuelan TV showed them as they were escorted to the meeting point in the Colombian jungle by a dozen guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Planned for nearly a month, the release took place in Guaviare state, where on Jan. 10 the FARC released two women hostages, Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez.
"Thank you for bringing me back to life," said a tearful Polanco, 47, as one of her captors handed her several bunches of flowers.
The four ex-legislators were given medical exams and flown in helicopters to a Venezuelan army base, then in a small jet to a Caracas airport, where they were reunited with tearful family members. A meeting with Chavez at the presidential palace followed.
Among hostages still being held by the rebels are three U.S. defense contractor employees -- Keith Stansell, Marc Goncalves and Thomas Howes -- who were captured when their aircraft was shot down in February 2003. Freed captive Perez, a former senator, said all of the Americans still suffer injuries from the crash.
Rumors of a deal to secure the release of the Americans and of the another captive, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, have circulated for weeks. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made the release of Bentancourt, who holds dual Colombian-French citizenship, a high priority. She is said to be in poor health.
But the FARC announced this week that there would be no more releases unless Colombia agrees to create a demilitarized zone where all remaining hostages and rebel prisoners can be exchanged.
LOS ANGELES TIMES, AP
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