Hostages Freed in Colombia Are Reunited With Families

By Travis Fox and William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 4, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia, July 3 -- On their first full day of freedom, the hostages rescued from guerrilla captivity in Colombia were reunited with relatives, as new details emerged Thursday about their captors and the conditions under which they were held.

Ingrid Betancourt, a onetime presidential candidate and the best known of the 15 hostages rescued, embraced her two grown children for the first time since she was kidnapped six years ago. In a poignant scene after the pair arrived in Bogota aboard a plane from Paris, she rushed up the stairs to greet them, apparently unwilling to wait for them to disembark.

"Nirvana, paradise -- that must be very similar to what I feel at this moment," Betancourt told reporters after hugging her daughter, Melanie, 22, and her son, Lorenzo, 19.

The three American defense contractors who were freed in Colombia's southeastern Guaviare province arrived late Wednesday in San Antonio, Tex., where they were admitted to Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. They did not make a public appearance or issue any statements.

U.S. military officials said the men -- Keith Stansell, Thomas Howes and Marc Gonsalves -- showed remarkable resilience and appeared to be in good physical and psychological condition. The conditions they endured during their five-year captivity, however, "were very cruel and very spartan," Maj. Gen. Keith Huber, commander of U.S. Army South at Fort Sam Houston, told reporters.

Huber said Stansell had a private reunion with his son, daughter and parents at the commanding general's headquarters before being escorted back to the hospital. The family members were "thrilled" and "overwhelmed" to see Stansell back safe, the general said, adding, "It was quite humbling."

Relatives of Howes and Gonsalves were en route to the post for reunions with the men, Huber said. The three are expected to remain at Fort Sam Houston for two to four days.

In Colombia, television coverage alternated between images of the Betancourt reunion and a boisterous rally at the Defense Ministry. At the rally, a band welcomed back the 11 Colombian army soldiers and police officers who had been rescued.

The former captives, dressed in fatigues, stood on a balcony and spoke to a crowd assembled below. They waved and, at one point, linked hands and yelled in Spanish, "Hip, hip hooray for the Colombian army!"

"Some foreign military analysts said this [operation] could have only been done by the best of the best in the world," Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said. "And we are the best in the world!"

In what Colombian officials called an elaborate ruse, army commandos deceived a rebel unit entrusted with the prized hostages into turning them over in a grassy field. The rescue operation further strengthened the government's hand in its four-decade battle with the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"The guerrillas feel more and more defeated and demoralized. I can say that 70 percent of them are bored with their life," said Juan Carlos Bermeo, one of the freed soldiers.

The rebel leader of the group guarding the hostages was apprehended during Wednesday's operation along with his deputy. The commander, Gerardo Antonio Aguilar Ramírez, was among 11 FARC members indicted last year by a U.S. federal court on charges of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a terrorist group. They were also indicted on charges of taking hostage the three American contractors rescued Wednesday, court records show.

Aguilar, alias César, is accused of being the commander of a 550-member logistical network that prosecutors called "large and trusted" within the FARC network, according to the court records.

Along with his deputy, Alexander Farfán -- alias Gafas -- César was displayed before reporters here Thursday.

The reporters started peppering the men with questions, with some asking if they regretted the way they treated their hostages. César, with a black-and-blue right eye, stood stone-faced and refused to answer any questions.

Santos, the defense minister, said the guerrillas would not be extradited to the United States. "They should be condemned here," he said.

Meanwhile, reports detailing the conditions under which the hostages were kept mesmerized people here. According to the Associated Press, the hostages were at times chained to a post by their necks. Their options for food became more limited over time.

"Suicide was a permanent temptation," Betancourt said at a news conference at the French Embassy in Bogota. "I used to ask myself how bad it would be, if I would dare to do it and what would my children think." In the end, Betancourt said, it was the memories of her children that helped her survive.

"We always told her, you have to live for yourself and for your children," said William Pérez, an army nurse who was imprisoned with Betancourt.

Pérez said that he treated Betancourt when she was ill and that the last two weeks were especially difficult for her. She credited him with saving her life.

"I think that two more weeks and she would have died. She was very stressed and didn't eat, which malnourished her," Pérez said.

Betancourt looked healthy and enthusiastic Thursday as she visited the grave site of her father, who died while she was in captivity. She waved to a throng of reporters who followed her every step of the way. At the back of the pack was Betancourt's mother, Yolanda Pulecio, in tears.

"This moment is like her being born again," she said.

Branigin reported from Washington. Staff writer Del Quentin Wilber in Washington contributed to this report.