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Rebels Admit They Don't Have Hostage Boy

Posted Jan 5, 08 6:45 AM CST in World 

(Newser) – Rebels in Colombia have acknowledged that the 3-year-old boy in foster care in Bogota is Emmanuel, the son of one of the hostages they are holding and the focus of a much-publicized release that fell through last week. Farc rebels had announced the release of Emmanuel, his mother Clara Rojas, and another Colombian politician to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The boy, now 3, was left at a hospital in a malnourished condition in July 2005; last week he was DNA-tested and found to be a match with Clara Rojas' mother.  "We now know that the whole time it was clear that the Farc would never have delivered the boy because they never had him," a government minister said.  The leftist rebels still hold some 45 high-profile hostages and as many as 750 others, BBC reports.
Source: BBC

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Ivan Rojas, the brother of Clara Rojas, who's being held captive by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for nearly six years, speaks to journalists in Bogota, Friday, Jan. 4, 2008. Colombia's...   (Associated Press)
Colombia's senator Piedad Cordoba, top, speaks on her mobile phone in Villavicencio, Colombia, Monday, Dec. 31, 2007. A Venezuelan-led mission to rescue three hostages, including a young boy, from leftist...   (Associated Press)
In this photo released by the Presidency of Colombia, Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe, left, talks to his Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo at a military base in Villavicencio, Colombia, Monday,...   (Associated Press)
Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe talks to the media at a military base in Villavicencio, Colombia, Monday, Dec. 31, 2007. A mission to retrieve three rebel-held hostages from Colombia's jungles fell...   (Associated Press)
Clara Gonzalez de Rojas, mother of kidnapped Colombian politician Clara Rojas pauses during a press conference in Caracas, Friday, Jan. 4, 2008. DNA analysis indicates a 3-year-old boy living in a Bogota...   (Associated Press)
Clara Rojas, mother of former Vice-President candidateClara Rojas, talks on the phone as she holds a portrait of her daughter at the request of a local journalist, during a press conference in Bogota,...   (Associated Press)
Clara Rojas is seen during her captivity at an undisclosed location in this image from television made available Aug. 31, 2003. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said in a communique...   (Associated Press)
A Venezuelan helicopter bearing Red Cross insignias sits on the tarmac at the airport in Villavicencio, Colombia, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007. Colombia's U.S.-allied government agreed to allow the helicopters...   (Associated Press)
Clara Rojas, right, mother of former Vice-President candidate Clara Rojas, is embraced by Colombia's senator Piedad Cordoba as she arrives to Simon Bolivar airport in Caracas, Thursday, Dec 27, 2007....   (Associated Press)
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