These are the people you are siding with against Colombia.
'You can't imagine the horror'
28/02/2008 17:00 - (SA)
4 hostages to be rescued
FARC to free more hostages
Hostages tell of life in chains
Ex-hostages are 'living again'
Colombian hostages freed
'I would love to hold him'
Caracas - Four Colombian former lawmakers freed by Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas spoke of their ordeal in the
jungles of Colombia, as the daughter of Ingrid Betancourt, one of the
remaining hostages, expressed her anguish.
Luis Eladio Perez, one of those released, told re****ters in Caracas:
"It's the greatest feeling: to be born again.
"You can't imagine the horrors of living seven years in the sub-human
conditions we were kept," he added.
Perez and the three other freed hostages - Gloria Polanco, Orlando
Beltran and Jorge Gechem - were recovered on Wednesday by Red Cross and
Venezuelan officials and flown in on Venezuelan aircraft.
He explained he had survived a heart attack, three diabetic comas and a
kidney malfunction because of tropical diseases.
He also said he feared for Betancourt, the most high-profile prisoner
still held by the FARC, and vowed to do all to have her freed as well.
Betancourt, a 46-year-old French-Colombian who was seized in 2002 as she
campaigned for the Colombian presidency, was "very, very sick,
physically and morally spent," he said, adding that he last saw her on
February 4.
In Paris meanwhile, Betancourt's daughter Melanie Delloye expressed her
concern at Perez's account.
"Mother is alive, but I don't know for how much longer and I know that
we have to get her out of there as quickly as possible.
"So I am extremely upset about it. I hope that the FARC and the
Colombian government are going to reach a humanitarian agreement as
quickly as possible."
Perez said three Americans captured in 2003 by the rebels were also
faring badly, adding that they would likely remain in captivity unless a
FARC leader who was jailed for 60 years in January gets his sentence
reduced by US courts.
The four hostages released on Wednesday had spent more than six years in
the hands of the Marxist FARC, who constantly moved them around in
tropical woodland to prevent their rescue by the Colombian military.
In both cases, FARC said it would only hand the hostages over to
services commanded by leftwing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has
rocky relations with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
Chavez made a "from the heart" appeal to top FARC leader Manuel
Marulanda late on Wednesday, to move Betancourt to a safe location
"urgently."
"I'll send you a message through our regular channels to see how we can
go about releasing Ingrid," Chavez said during a meeting with re****ters.
The rebels' insistence on Chavez heading up the two recovery operations
appeared to be intended to embarrass the Colombian government, which has
been resisting their demands.
The Venezuelan leader's fierce anti-US rhetoric runs counter to Uribe's
pro-Wa****ngton position.
Chavez has nettled his neighbour by suggesting the FARC be dropped from
US and EU terror organisation lists and be regarded as a legitimate
armed political force.
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