Freed hostage calls Colombian rebels 'terrorists'

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-08 11:10

FORT SAM HOUSTON - In his first public remarks since he and two other American hostages were freed in Colombia, a US defense contractor on Monday branded their captors as terrorists and praised the Colombian army for a daring rescue.

Keith Stansell, one of three US defense contractors freed on July 2 after five years as a rebel-held hostage in Colombia, holds his twin 5-year-old sons at a news conference at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, July 7, 2008. [Agencies]

American defense contractor Marc Gonsalves appeared with fellow hostages Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes at a military medical facility at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, after returning last week from more than five years of captivity.

Gonsalves leveled strong criticism at his captors -- the leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC.

"The FARC are not a revolutionary group," Gonsalves said. "They are terrorists with a capital 'T.' Bad people."

Gonsalves said he had seen the guerrilla group withhold medical care from a sick newborn baby.

He also talked about the lives of other hostages still being held.

"Right now they are wearing chains around their necks," he said. "They will be forced to march, with that chain around their neck, while a guerrilla with an automatic weapon is holding the other end of his chain, like a dog."

Colombian officials say FARC, which the United States has declared a terrorist organization, still holds more than 700 hostages.

The Americans all worked for US defense contractor Northrop Grumman and were captured in 2003 after their light aircraft crashed in the jungles while on a counternarcotics operation. A fourth contractor, Tom Janis, was killed by the FARC shortly after the crash, according to the company.

The three Americans, French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 11 other hostages were rescued by the Colombian army in what Gonsalves called "the most perfect rescue that has ever been executed in the history of the world."

The men did not take questions from reporters. Each gave statements in an auditorium before a crowd of cheering US soldiers.

Stansell urged reporters to respect the former hostages' privacy and quipped that he hoped Florida Gov. Charlie Crist would let him return home without his license, which his captors evidently took from him.

"Sir, I don't have a drivers license," Stansell said in a mock plea to Crist. "How am I going to get home?"