Abduction
Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell were on a drug surveillance mission in Colombia's cocaine-producing southern jungle when their single engine Cessna plane crashed on February 13, 2003 in territory controlled by FARC.
The American pilot, Tom Janis, and a Colombian army intelligence officer, Sgt. Luis Alcides Cruz, were led out by FARC gunmen and shot. The three surviving Americans, (Gonsalves, Stansell and Howes) were forced to march with the guerrillas, deeper and deeper into the jungle. After this, the three Americans' exact location was lost by US intelligence. Three other Americans associated with Northrop Grumman made an attempt to find the hostages by air, but were all killed when their plane hit a tree.
Then Colombian journalist Jorge Botero was allowed to contact the hostages and record a tape to prove that they were alive and well – and ready to be traded for imprisoned members of the FARC being held by the Colombian government.
Read more about this topic: Marc Gonsalves
Famous quotes containing the word abduction:
“Some men have sighed over the abduction of their wives, but many more have sighed because no one wanted to abduct theirs.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)