FARC Will Punish Remaining Captives: Ex-Hostage

US contractors rescued from Colombian rebels speak to press
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 8, 2008 10:15 AM CDT
FARC Will Punish Remaining Captives: Ex-Hostage
Rescued American hostages Thomas R. Howes, left, and Marc D. Gonsalves wave an American flag at a "Yellow Ribbon Ceremony" where they spoke briefly to the press Monday in San Antonio, Tex.   (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

Speaking to the media for the first time since his rescue Wednesday, a former FARC captive warned that remaining hostages would face retribution over the escape, CNN reports. “Right now, they're being punished because we got rescued,” said US government contractor Marc Gonsalves. They’ll be made to don heavy backpacks and “forced to march with a chain around their neck while a guerrilla with an automatic weapon is holding the other end.”

Gonsalves addressed the press with two other freed government contractors. He called the rescuers “heroes” and his Colombian captors “terrorists with a capital T,” noting that “they say they want equality. That’s all a lie. They are not a revolutionary group.” If they want to prove that they’re not terrorists, he said, they should free the rest of the captives. (More Colombia stories.)

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