Freed US Hostage Speaks Out Against Colombians

By Pamela Mortimer

Marc Gonsalves is glad to be home. Gonsalves and two other U.S. military contractors have returned from Colombia where they’ve been held captive for five years. On Monday, Gonsalves condemned his captors as being "terrorists with a capital 'T."'

Gonsalves was referring to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which were responsible for detaining him and two others for more than five years. Gonsalves says that the Colombians refuse to acknowledge basic human rights and openly reject democracy.

"I want to send a message to the FARC," Gonsalves said. "FARC, you guys are terrorists. You deny that you are - you say with words that you're not terrorists, but your words don't have any value. Don't tell us that you're not terrorists; show us that you're not terrorists."

The remarks were made at a welcome home ceremony in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The family members of all three men, Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes were on hand to greet their loved ones. Many of the family members wept and expressed gratitude for the safe return of their loved ones.

Gonsalves holds the belief that the guerrilla group had others in captivity because the three men and Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate, were able to be rescued.

The ill treatment of the men included being forced to march while carrying a heavy backpack. A guerrilla armed with an automatic weapon walked with the men while holding onto a chain that was wrapped around each man’s neck, "like a dog."

"They say that they want equality, they say that they just want to make Colombia a better place," Gonsalves said. "But it's all a lie."

Gonsalves, Stansell and Howes were taken by FARC after their drug-surveillance plane went down in the Colombian jungle in February 2003. The men were rescued when Colombian spies managed to trick their rebel captors into releasing them. Also rescued were eleven members of the Colombian security forces.

The former hostages, employees of a Northrop Grumman Corporation subsidiary, were brought into the U.S. late Wednesday and were immediately taken by helicopter to Fort Sam Houston's Brooke Army Medical Center.
According to Col. Jackie Hayes, Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care at Brooke, the men "in general fared very well" and that exams have "not revealed any significant medical problems."

"At this time we believe that they are all very healthy," Hayes said.

Although the men did not take questions from reporters, they did make statements thanking their families, the Colombian military, the U.S. government and Northrop Grumman.

"It's a pleasure to be in the USA," Howes said, giving a thumbs-up.