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Rescued Colombian Hostages Talk About Returning to U.S. Soil

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By PETER BERNARD

News Channel 8

Published: July 7, 2008

TAMPA - Three American hostages rescued from a Colombian leftist group talked today about seeing their families — and tasting freedom — for the first time in 5 1/2 years.

"It is my privilege to stand here before you with my family, whose love and support sustained me through the most difficult ordeal of my life," Keith Stansell of Sarasota said in a news conference in San Antonio, Texas.

"They are, these people here, the reason I'm alive."

Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howse are among the 15 people rescued by the Colombian military from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The three are U.S. military contractors. Among the hostages was former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.

Stansell, who has children in Sarasota, met for the first time Monday his 5-year-old twin boys, born while FARC held him hostage.

Gonsalves thanked the Colombian military and the American people. "There was a time that when I slept, I would dream that I was free. That time was only a few days ago. It feels so good to be here now."

Gonsalves said that FARC members are drug traffickers, extortionists and kidnappers, staffed mainly by poor, uneducated children and young adults.

"They are not a revolutionary group," he said. "They are terrorists."

Gonsalves addressed the rebels Monday, asking them to begin a dialogue with the government and let go others held captive.

Stansell had a plea of his own, which elicited laughter from the crowd.

"To Gov. Crist: Sir, I don't have a driver's license," he said. "How am I going to get home?"

Tribune reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report.

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