US hostages arrive in Texas
2008-07-03 11:17
Texas - Three American hostages rescued from leftist guerrillas in Colombia arrived safely in Texas late on Wednesday and were taken to a hospital, where they were expected to reunite with their families and undergo tests and treatment.
The US military contractors - Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell - were held for five years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Their plane landed at Lackland Air Force Base shortly after 23:00 on Wednesday. The men then quickly boarded two helicopters headed to Brooke Army Medical Centre in San Antonio, where they landed a short time later.
Ingrid Betancourt, who was seized while campaigning for president six years ago, was also freed on Wednesday, as were 11 Colombian police and soldiers.
The Americans, all wearing olive green flight suits, exited the back end of an Air Force C-17 with little fanfare, surrounded by several other people.
Their drug-surveillance plane went down in the rebel-held Colombian jungle in February 2003. Long before their rescue, the three had become the longest-held American hostages in the world, according to the US Embassy in Bogota.
While France exhorted the world to care about the plight of Betancourt, and even sent a humanitarian mission in a failed rescue attempt this year, the US government remained nearly silent about any efforts to free the men, employees of a Northrop Grumman Corp subsidiary that has supported Colombia's fight against drugs and rebels.
'We didn't know what the heck was going on'
The families eventually complained publicly about what seemed to be the US government's failure to act. At one point, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez seemed like he was doing more than anyone in Washington to free them.
"We didn't know what the heck was going on," Gonsalves' father, George, told reporters. "I'm getting information from you guys."
The Americans' fate seemed particularly grim after "proof-of-life" images released last November showed them appearing haggard, even haunted, against a deep jungle background.
The contractors and Betancourt were among a group of rebel-designated "political prisoners" whom the FARC planned to release only in exchange for hundreds of imprisoned rebels. But every attempt at talking about a prisoner swap seemed to go nowhere.
Behind the scenes, however, Colombia's armed forces were closing in on the rebels, with the help of billions of dollars in US military support.
The US and Colombian governments learned the hostages' location "any number of times" and planned several rescue missions during their five years in captivity, but the difficulty of extracting them alive had prevented the missions from being carried out, according to a US government official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of intelligence matters.
Last month, Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said soldiers had spotted the three men in the southern jungles, but they disappeared into the forest before the troops could attempt a rescue.
'I couldn't believe it'
And after the men were freed on Wednesday, US Ambassador William Brownfield said US and Colombian forces co-operated closely on the rescue mission, including sharing intelligence, equipment, training advice and operational experience.
The Americans appeared healthy in a video shown on Colombian television, though Brownfield, who met with them at a Colombian military base, said two of the three - he didn't specify whom - were suffering from the jungle malady leishmaniasis and "looking forward to modern medical treatment".
Gonsalves' father George was mowing his yard when an excited neighbour relayed the news he had seen on television.
"I didn't know how to stop my lawnmower," he said. "I was shocked. I couldn't believe it."
"We're still teary-eyed and not quite have our wits about us," said Stansell's stepmother, Lynne.
And Howes' niece, Amanda Howes, said the rescue "redefines the word miracle".
Congratulations poured in to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe from US President George W Bush and both presidential candidates. Republican Sen John McCain said Uribe had told him in advance of the rescue plans while he was campaigning in Colombia. "It's a very high-risk operation," he said. "I congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of Colombia."
Democrat Barack Obama also sent his congratulations, saying he supports "Colombia's steady strategy of making no concessions to the FARC, and its targeted use of intelligence, military, law enforcement, diplomatic, and political power to achieve important victories against terrorism".
- AP