COLOMBIA: Escaped hostage, Jhon Frank Pinchao , held by FARC for 9 years, reunites with family

A Colombian police officer who escaped after being held by the FARC leftist rebels for nine years is reunited with his family. A Colombian police officer who escaped after nearly nine years in rebel captivity was reunited with his family on Wednesday (May 16). Jhon Frank Pinchao looked thin and gaunt-faced as his plane landed in the capital city of Bogota where he was greeted by fellow police officers who applauded his arrival. He broke into tears as he hugged his parents and relatives, including his son who he was meeting for the first time. Pinchao was found by a police patrol in the interior of the country, near the Papuri River. On a rainy night, he slipped his chains and fled for more than two weeks through the jungle. "In the minds of all hostages, the main thought of every second is freedom. There are some who are willing to give a lot. There are some who are willing to give it all and I decided to risk it all when the right circumstances arose," he explained. Pinchao was captured by the FARC when guerrillas attacked a police base in 1998, killing some officers and taking more than 60 hostage. The FARC, fighting a four-decade long conflict fueled by the cocaine trade, has often kidnapped police, soldiers and politicians for ransom or for political leverage in talks with the government. He said he was held with a group of 13 hostages, including some other police officers and had last seen three kidnapped American contract workers and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt on April 28. 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 hide-out in October 2003. Howes, Gonsalves and 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. Betancourt, who has dual French-Colombian nationality, was a presidential candidate when she was taken hostage in 2002. Betancourt's mother, Yolanda Pulecio, visited Pinchao in hospital on Thursday (May 17) - eager for news on her daughter. "It is very emotional for the parents because I know them very well. His father has suffered a lot and his mother too. I have met with his father frequently. They have suffered more than me because it is been nine years. They always tell me to be patient; I know, but sometimes it is too hard." Pinchao was taken to the central police hospital for treatment of malnutrition and other health problems related to his captivity. "A patient who entered in fair physical condition, with an important malnourishment caused by a deficit of calories and proteins and injures to his lower limbs caused by contact infections. Those are dermatological lesions that do not put him at risk," said Doctor Juan Carlos Salamanca of Pinchao's condition. He is the second hostage to escape in recent months following the escape of Fernando Araujo in December of 2006. He was named Foreign Minister in February. President Uribe and the FARC are deadlocked over how to begin talks about exchanging around 60 key hostages for jailed rebels as a step toward possible peace negotiations.

ITN Source | May 19, 2007

Tags:. .fellow. .account. .journalist. .emotional. .physical