Farc hostage escapes after 9-year captivity

COLOMBIA: A Colombian police officer who escaped after nearly nine years as a captive of Farc guerrillas said on Wednesday he…

COLOMBIA:A Colombian police officer who escaped after nearly nine years as a captive of Farc guerrillas said on Wednesday he was held hostage until last month with three US contract workers and former presidential candidate, French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt.

Gaunt and thin in a police uniform, Jhon Pinchao described how he slipped from chains the guerrillas used to hold prisoners and fled for more than two weeks through the jungle before he was found by a police patrol.

"They were moving us from one camp to another every few months," the officer told reporters after meeting president Alvaro Uribe in Bogotá. "The last time I saw them was April 28th," he replied when asked about Ms Betancourt and the three US citizens.

Ms Betancourt, elected a senator in 1998, is highly regarded for her campaigning against the country's endemic corruption and for dialogue between left and right. She was a presidential candidate when she was taken hostage in 2002. An international campaign for her release has been run by her family.

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Guerrillas from the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), kidnapped the three Americans in 2003 when their light aircraft crashed on a drug- eradication mission.

Mr Pinchao's account was the first concrete news about the three men - Thomas Howes, Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell - since a Colombian journalist released a video of them at a secret jungle hideout in October 2003.

The Farc, fighting a four-decade conflict fuelled by the cocaine trade, has often kidnapped police, soldiers and politicians for ransom or for political leverage in talks with the government. The group was involved in contacts with the Provisional republican movement, allegedly involving training in terrorist techniques, culminating in the arrest and conviction of the "Colombia Three".

Mr Howes, Mr Gonsalves and Mr Stansell were captured after their surveillance plane went down while spotting coca crops used to make cocaine. Rebels shot another American and a Colombian who were also on the aircraft.

Mr Pinchao was captured by the Farc when guerrillas attacked a police base in 1998, killing some officers and taking more than 60 hostage. He said he was held with a group of 13 hostages, including some other police officers. All of the hostages were suffering from ailments after years in the jungle, including Mr Gonsalves who has hepatitis, Mr Pinchao said.

"I hope they can return soon, God protect them," he said, breaking into tears.

Violence from Colombia's conflict has decreased under Mr Uribe, who has led a US-financed campaign to counter the guerrillas and negotiate the disarming of illegal paramilitary squads who once fought them in a dirty war. But kidnapping is a sensitive issue in Colombia, where hundreds are still held.

Colombia's foreign minister, Fernando Araujo, was given his post shortly after escaping from the Farc in January after six years in captivity.

The Farc is still battling, mostly in remote, rural areas. Mr Uribe and the guerrillas are deadlocked over how to begin talks about exchanging about 60 key hostages for jailed rebels as a step towards possible peace negotiations.

"The principle thought of every kidnap victim every second of the day is freedom," Mr Pinchao said. "I had a chance and I took it."