Military News - Military Times

Hostage rescued in Colombia is former airman

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — Three American hostages rescued from leftist guerrillas in Colombia returned safely to the U.S. more than five years after their plane went down in rebel-held jungle territory.

The Air Force C-17 carrying the three military contractors landed at Lackland shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday. All appeared well as they exited. The men were then flown by choppers to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where they were expected to undergo tests.

Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell — employees of a Northrop Grumman Corp. subsidiary that has supported Colombia’s fight against drugs and rebels — had been held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia since their drug surveillance plane went down in the jungle in February 2003. Prior to working as a contractor, Gonsalves served for eight years as an imagery analyst in the Air Force.

The three were rescued when Colombian spies tricked leftist rebels into handing them over along with kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. She was also freed Wednesday, as were 11 Colombian police and soldiers.

Long before their rescue, it seemed like any public efforts to rescue the hostages had disappeared. Their families complained publicly about what seemed to be the U.S. government’s failure to act.

“We didn’t know what the heck was going on,” Gonsalves’ father, George, told reporters. “I’m getting information from you guys.”

The Americans’ fate seemed particularly grim after “proof-of-life” images released in November showed them appearing haggard, even haunted, against a deep jungle background.

The contractors and Betancourt were among a group of rebel-designated “political prisoners” whom the FARC planned to release only in exchange for hundreds of imprisoned rebels. But every attempt at talking about a prisoner swap seemed to go nowhere.

Behind the scenes, however, Colombia’s armed forces were closing in on the rebels, with the help of billions of dollars in U.S. military support.

The U.S. and Colombian governments learned the hostages’ location “any number of times” and planned several rescue missions during their five years in captivity, but the difficulty of extracting them alive had prevented the missions from being carried out, according to a U.S. government official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of intelligence matters.

Last month, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said soldiers had spotted the three men in the southern jungles, but they disappeared into the forest before the troops could attempt a rescue.

After the men were freed, U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said U.S. and Colombian forces cooperated closely on the rescue mission, including sharing intelligence, equipment, training advice and operational experience.

The Americans appeared healthy in a video shown on Colombian television, though Brownfield, who met with them at a Colombian military base, said two of the three were suffering from the jungle malady leishmaniasis and “looking forward to modern medical treatment.”

George Gonsalves was mowing his yard when an excited neighbor relayed the news he had seen on television.

“I didn’t know how to stop my lawnmower,” he said. “I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it.”

“We’re still teary-eyed and not quite have our wits about us,” said Stansell’s stepmother, Lynne.

And Howes’ niece, Amanda Howes, said the rescue “redefines the word miracle.”

Gonsalves’ father, who later got a phone call from the FBI confirming his son was free, expected an emotional family reunion, especially for his son’s three children, now teenagers. “Think about your children if they don’t see you for a week a weekend or a month,” he said. “It’s five years pulled out of your life.”