Stansell still alive 
by MCL staff writer

Keith Stansell

Bogota-In a recent article by Reuters and news reports by major networks, hope was renewed when family and friends of Keith Stansell learned that the Colombian government broadcast videos of the kidnapped politician Ingrid Betancourt and the three Americans in the first proof of life since 2003.

The videos, which also showed Colombian military officerskidnapped by guerrillas, were confiscated from three suspected rebels captured in Bogota and included images from October, Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said.

Brief clips of the videos broadcast by television showed images of U.S. contractor Stansell, along with Thomas Howes, and Marc Gonsalves. Each are standing alone in a jungle-like surrounding and appear to be good physical condition. The three were snatched by the FARC when their aircraft crashed on a counter-narcotics mission February 13, 2003.

Reports also indicate that photographs and letters from the hostages were also found.

Also being held hostage Betancourt, the congresswoman who campaigned against corruption, was kidnapped on Feb. 23, 2002, while campaigning for president in the south. She and the three Americans are said to be among the most well known captives held. Videos of her show her sitting at a small table, and she appears fairly thin, with very, very long hair. "She is looking down. I had a feeling that her hands were chained. It's a sad image of my sister, but she is alive," Betancourt's sister told LCI television in France.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy played a key role in recent efforts to broker a deal to free FARC hostages in exchange for jailed rebel fighters. Earlier this year, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe freed a FARC commander to try to broker talks and this past summer invited Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to mediate.

Family members of the hostages say they will now fight relentlessly to obtain their release and an end to this ordeal.

The FARC wants to exchange around 50 hostages for jailed rebels, but efforts by Chavez to broker a hostage deal fell apart after Colombia suspended his role as mediator.

Started in the 1960s as a leftist insurgency, the FARC is now deeply engaged in Colombia's cocaine trade and has kidnapped scores of police, soldiers, business owners, and lawmakers for ransom and political leverage.

It is the hopes and prayers of all who know Stansell and those captured with him that they will soon be released by the Bogota rebels.

See another story concerning the efforts of Keith Stansell's family on page two of this edition.