US ex-hostage calls FARC rebels 'terrorists'
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AFP) — One of three US defense contractors nationals held by Colombia's FARC rebels for more than five years said Monday the guerillas were not revolutionaries but "terrorists," using a crusade for the poor as a front for crime.
"They are not a revolutionary group. They are terrorists. Terrorists with a capital T," Marc Gonsalves told a televised press conference from Texas, in his first public comments since the Colombian army rescued him and 14 others from captivity Wednesday.
"They say that they want equality. They say that they just want to make Colombia a better place. But that's all a lie. It's a cover story, and they hide behind it," he said.
"And they use it to justify their criminal activity.... Their interests lie in drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping. They refuse to acknowledge all human rights. And they reject democracy."
The FARC seized Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell in February 2003 while the men were carrying out an anti-drug mission for the US Department of Defense, and held them until their dramatic rescue Wednesday.
Colombian commandos posing as rebels tricked the guerillas into handing over the trio as well as French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 11 Colombian soldiers.
In their first public appearance since they were flown back to the US military base in San Antonio, Texas, early Thursday, the Americans were greeted at Brooke Army medical center by a boisterous crowd that gave them a long, standing ovation.
Flanked by family members and holding small American flags high over their heads, the three former hostages praised the Colombian government and their own for not giving up on their plight.
"Almost five and a half years ago we fell off the edge of the earth," said Howes.
"My companions helped me cope with the difficult conditions. During these years, our company took extraordinary care of our families."
Howes thanked the Colombian army for "our spectacular rescue," and both he and Gonsalves referred to the commandos as "heroes."
"There was a time that when I slept, I would dream that I was free. That time was only a few days ago. It feels so good to be free here now with all of you," Gonsalves said.
However, they reminded their audience of the remaining hostages and urged FARC to release them.
"Don't tell us that you're not terrorists, show us that you're not terrorists. Let those other hostages come home," Gonsalves said.
The hostages were likely being tortured for those that got away, he said, adding that even members of the rebel group hated being part of it so much that many chose suicide as the only way out.
The majority of FARC's forces "are children and young adults" with little or no education who were "tricked into joining the FARC, and they're brainwashed into believing that their cause is a just cause," he said.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began in 1964 as a bedraggled group of 48 armed farmers, and grew steadily until its force at its peak numbered 17,000, and controlled significant swathes of Colombian countryside.
But the snatching of its most high-value hostages, combined with the deaths earlier this year of two top leaders, have left the group severely weakened -- though they still hold scores if not hundreds of hostages.
On Monday an Ecuadoran television station citing official sources said Ecuadoran forces had discovered and destroyed 12 FARC camps and houses inside Ecuador near the Colombian border, where they also found arms and documents of the group.
