Note as of 2:00PM: I’ve heard that some have had trouble accessing the Colombian Presidency’s apparently overloaded server to view the proofs of life. The pictures can also be downloaded here, and the (very sad) video can be viewed here on YouTube.Â
The Colombian government announced a few hours ago that, while carrying out operations against FARC urban units in Bogotá, soldiers and prosecutorial investigators captured three people with videos, letters and digital photos providing recent evidence that many of the guerrillas’ hostages are still alive.
The Colombian Presidency’s office has posted the photos and a soundless video. They are heartbreaking and hard to watch. Ingrid Betancourt, gaunt and with long hair, stares at the ground. The three U.S. citizens appear in the videos and in photos, each standing near a wooden chair in the midst of thick jungle.
The photos are dated October 23 and 24, though a few – including those of the U.S. hostages – are dated January 1, probably a digital-camera error.
The FARC produced these images in response to a request from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a request that was seconded by other governments and individuals who were accompanying the prisoner-for-hostage-exchange mediation effort that ended so abruptly last week. When the process ended, we were left wondering whether the FARC had even made this small concession. It turns out that they had.
These “proofs of life” were intended to be a show of good faith, an initial step to move the process forward. Today, though, there is no process.
That is unacceptable. These photos make clear the urgency of re-initiating contacts and working, patiently and persistently, to bring these people home.
November 30th, 2007 at 9:36 am
I fundamentally disagree with your characterization of “proof of life” as a “concession”. It shouldn’t be considered that. It ought to be considered a pre-requisite to negotiations. A “concession” would be the symbolic release of a hostage to facilitate the process.
As long as negotiators and interested parties continue to see things like “proof of life” as a concession, the longer this problem will go unresolved. This idea supports the FARC view that they have now taken a big step and that they should get something in return. I suggest that Uribe release “proof of life” videos of FARC soldiers in prison. That way the Uribe government will have made an equal “concession.”
November 30th, 2007 at 10:20 am
This shows the importance of military action, not endless, fruitless negotiation, in the rescue of the hostages. The FARC needs to be crushed. It didn’t give these videos willingly. It had its chance and it decided to jack everyone around, even its pal Chavez. Only military action will secure the release of the hostages. The FARC needs to be shot dead.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:38 am
You are supposing that the FARC produced these images in response to a request from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, that´s simple not true. The only thing we know is that the farc had the pictures, but there is no proof that they intended to use them as a “proof of life”.
November 30th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Camilla, you are assuming that killing the FARC is possible, that’s one hell of an assumption. Second of all you are also assuming that militarily rescuing the hostages will NOT lead to their deaths. That is also a huge assupmtion (that is wrong and for your disdain of the FARC I am surprised you would make). How about we get the hostages ALIVE first before we try to destroy the FARC. Because if we are going to destroy the FARC, it’s best to leave the hostages out of it, which in your scenario would not happen. You should recall the numerous times that hostages have been killed in rescue attempts. Second of all, maybe we should defer to the families of the hostages to see if they want to run that risk; the military has done this in the past, and still does it. The familiy of a business man that died in a rescue attempt this year in the Valle (or that area) was consulted by the military and gave the go-ahead for the rescue attempt. Unfortunately for your case, we already know what the families say.
We must be careful before jumping to conclusions based on assumptions when we are talking the very lives of the people we are trying to save.
November 30th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Also Camilla you assert and assume that any negotiation in the future will be “endless [and] fruitless.” Another assumption, based with some reason, that is iffy.
November 30th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Alejandro, from my knowledge of the recently terminated process, I have very strong reason to believe that the FARC produced the POLs in response to a direct and emphatic request from Chávez, Córdoba, the French and other parties. We know that the FARC leadership issued an order that they be produced in October, and indeed the dates of the photos seem to bear that out.
SJH, the FARC had made clear its initial reluctance to provide POLs because they – or at least a significant faction of them – believed that doing so would increase the probability of (potentially disastrous) rescue attempts. Either by providing clues to the hostages’ whereabouts in the videos themselves (unlikely) or by the capture of couriers who might have knowledge of where the images were taken, or by a big rise in pro-rescue sentiment in Colombian public opinion. Yes, they are paranoid.
But the fact that they produced the POLs despite these concerns merits the label “small concession.” And it would be a great idea for Colombia to provide similar images of FARC prisoners in Colombian jails, just as Piedad Córdoba thought the images of Simón Trinidad and Sonia would be helpful. They would be a contribution, however modest, toward confidence building. (The prisoners’ own security concerns may be an issue, though).
November 30th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
My wife is half Colombian Indian and half Costa Rican.
I lived in Venezuela, Colombia and saw firsthand the poor living in squalor. While the few rich lived in gated communities. This made me physically ill and put in my mind that one day I will do everything that I can to change this. I turned my life over to God 10 years ago and ever since most of my dreams have come true. I am physically disabled from the military and I have had to leave my work in the oil industry due to my health. This is why I have continued to push for a serious change in Latin America. I may not be able to walk very well at 42 but my mind is still 20 years old.
Since the beginning of time, Latin America has seen one revolution after another. The same results occur. As with the current president of Venezuela, absolute power equals absolute corruption. It is difficult to gain others attention to the poverty and to get help for these people when a head of state makes crazy off the wall comments.
It also seems that the United States has had a view of Latin America, for many years, as a place for cheap labor. I have seen this first hand working in the oil industry years ago. Others and I were able to make a small change by increasing the wages of the workers that worked with us on projects. As I stated before I am neither right nor left in my views.
When I returned to the Untied States and worked to make positive changes here, the power people of the community that I once lived did everything that was possible to destroy my name and future so that their little group could continue to rob the poor.
Now on to Colombia. The future is a bright one if the people decide to go the way of progress. Others and I have worked hard to push for legislation in the United States and in the rest of the world community that will no longer give big companies the right to dump waste, give poor wages and generally take advantage of the people in Latin America as a whole.
The president of Venezuela spends millions of dollars on protection from his own paranoid fears. While millions starve and are out of work. His dream was lost as his power grew and is now looked upon as an idiot by the rest of the world. Let’s give this e-mail the real picture of what is going on. The oil in Venezuela has a high Sulfur content and there is also heavy oil there that needs to be expensively processed before it can go to market. Venezuela is not Saudi and it would cost more money for the United States to invade than the oil is worth. So why the weapons? Could it be a planned expansion of Venezuela? Like the $800,000 dollars flown to Argentina in the Great Leaders private plane.
Change at the barrel of a gun is not the answer for either side. If it was South America would be out of the mess that is has been in for over 200 years. The answer is right in front of your eyes, it is the people themselves. Some solutions that look hard are easy. The ability to change leaders as we do in the United States has keep corruption down to a point. Special interest groups are the real threat to democracy here in the states.
Many people ask me why do I care about Latin America and why would I want to live there? The answer is simple, in the next 10 years you will see Latin America grow and prosper. The people are some of the most intelligent in the world, there is natural wealth in the area and you will see more of a migration of people leaving the United States and Europe to live where medical treatment is free, education is free and there is democracy that controls special interest groups. Others and myself have pushed big companies into projects to bring the poor to a better living standard. We did not need a weapon to do so and we saw results.
I never lived in a military camp in South America but I have lived with the Indians whom call neither Colombia nor Venezuela home. I would say my several months living off of the land with that group of Indians showed me more of what South America is really like. The FARC calls the three North Americans CIA. All that they did was answer an ad to go to work for a lot of money to spray chemicals on drug plants. Why the United States government has left them to die in a jungle environment is beyond me. Some people are willing to take the chance of making a lot of money to pay the $100,000 + dollars it cost per year to put their kids thru college in the United States.
If we want to see change in Colombia both groups will need to set down and put together a government which is neither right nor left. Neither side will win only the Colombian people will win and so will the rest of Latin America which will follow the example of Colombia.
November 30th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I agree, it’s very unlikely these videos, letters and photos could have been obtained, at least at this time, without the unique intervention of Chávez and Córdoba in particular.
But I find it hard to believe, despite my own wishes, that Uribe and Chávez will be able to restore their previous working relationship anytime soon, which means that such mediation efforts are unlikely to be revived in an official capacity. Sadly for all those involved.
Adam mentions an interesting point about Colombia’s showing images of FARC prisoners in jail, or at least sending them to FARC…but in addition to security concerns, we should keep in mind that most FARC prisoners are under completely different conditions, such as having the possibility of receiving visits, potential access to sentence reductions and the knowledge that their imprisonment is going to end after XX years or months.
There might be some exceptions, but the average guerrilla can’t be compared to a hostage. The government may feel that doing so would imply recognizing a certain (and mostly baseless) “equivalence”, politically speaking, though it would indeed help build confidence a bit. If you asked me, I would still do it, even if FARC gains some points among the relatively few people who are already inclined to believe in them.
November 30th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Some observations about the hostages themselves:
With the exception of Ingrid Betancourt, the hostages seem to be in better physical shape than I would have expected after several years of pretty basic living. Parasites and diseases out there can be very debilitating, but the men in general appear to be in pretty good physical shape. Their weight (in the photos anyway; no telling what they weighed, pre-kidnapping) appears to be ok, and they seem to have had haircuts and shaved recently (again, no telling if that was the first and only time they did that – for the photos – or not).
It may seem like a minor point, but the fact that several of the hostages are wearing wrist watches is interesting. Batteries on these things generally last around 2-3 years, so either these guys all have real long life batteries or someone’s changing batteries. Clothes seem to be pretty good shape, and where one can see, they’re wearing standard boonie boots of rubber that are popular – and practical – here in SA.
Betancourt photo is different for several reasons. The most obvious aspect is her physical condition. She’s much thinner than the men, she’s sitting, and her general body posture and head attitude and face denote (to me, anyway) an emotional and physical condition that’s not nearly as good as the men. As well, her grooming (or lack of it) and the condition of her clothes are not as good as those of the men. My dad was a Japanese POW during WWII and while his condition upon repatriation was worse than Betancourt’s she looks like she’s headed in that same direction, absent better nutrition, or perhaps a better state of mind.
I had understood from the debrief of the young cop who escaped a couple of months ago, that Betancourt, along with her female assistant was in the same group/camp with the Americans and others. However, I wonder if that’s true now, given the different aspects of her photo…..
I can understand Camilla’s rage and frustration with the FARC. These people are despicable cowards and assasins who are much better at drawing down on unarmed civilians than fighting the FAC. Still, Kyle is right, these boys would shoot the hostages at the first sign of rescuers. I wish it were all a Russell Crowe/David Caruso kind of proposition, but unfortunately, it isn’t.
…All of which argues for Adam’s last para in this post and my comment a couple of posts ago: Try to restart the whole dreary negotiation process once again with new interlocutors, perhaps, but someone with the patience to deal with the FARC assholes and the increasingly obstreporous Uribe…..
I couldn’t get the videos to work, which would say more about these folks, but generalizing, I’d be more worried about Betancourt’s condition and future than that of the men at this point.
December 1st, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Tambopaxi : “I had understood from the debrief of the young cop who escaped a couple of months ago, that Betancourt, along with her female assistant was in the same group/camp with the Americans and others. However, I wonder if that’s true now, given the different aspects of her photo…..”
Yeah…the groups have been divided several times in the past and no doubt that will probably continue in the future.
Btw, Pinchao himself was mentioned in her letter, so that tends to give some credibility to his having met Ingrid, if nothing else.
December 3rd, 2007 at 2:06 am
I just read parts of Betancourt’s letter to her mom. Her words indicate that she’s worse off than her photos would indicate.
My first impulse is to propose that Uribe reconcile with Chavez, and that the two of them, together with Sakorzy, ask the FARC to turn this lady loose asap. Under her current conditions, she may not last much longer….