Three American Hostages Rescued in Colombia; Ingrid Betancourt Freed; Three American Hostages Rescued in Colombia
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And just unimaginable joy this morning, for the families who waited and waited all of these years. Sometimes losing hope, sometimes believing that there was a still a chance. And then all of a sudden, in a flash, it happened.</s>JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And an early Independence Day for those three American hostages, now at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. That's the breaking news that we begin with on this Thursday morning. Right now, three Americans held hostage for years deep in Colombia's jungles. Today, they're waking up on American soil. They arrived at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, late last night after a deceptive and dangerous raid that not only rescued them but 12 others. The three men, Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes, have been held captive by left-wing guerillas in Colombia since 2003, February of 2003, enduring more time as hostages in any American history. Last night the niece of one of the three men spoke with Anderson Cooper as the former hostages headed to the hospital for checkups.</s>VOICE OF AMANDA HOWES, NIECE OF FREED HOSTAGE THOMAS HOWES: We are doing so great. We are so overjoyed with this whole process. And today is a great day for us. It redefines the word "miracle." It really does.</s>ROBERTS: Rescued hostage Marc Gonsalves' father George was out cutting his grass in Connecticut when his neighbor told him about the rescue. Here's George's story in his own words.</s>GEORGE GONSALVES, FATHER OF MARC GONSALVES: She told me, you know, he'd been rescued. And of course, you know, I got the lawn mower going. I shut it down. I said, really, whose been rescued? And she says, Marc. I said, Marc has been rescued? She goes, yes. I said, really? She goes, yes, yes, yes. She was really excited about it. So I believe it. I said, yes, really? When I saw that last proof of life the only thing I compared it to is, you know, I remember Vietnam when we had our prisoners in Hanoi and they were so tattered, you know, and haggard and it was heart wrenching to see him. There was a media article that said he had hepatitis, and that was confirmed. So it's very possible he may be a pretty sick guy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do with your son when you see him?</s>GONSALVES: Oh, got to give him a hug, anyway. I got to give him a big hug. I miss him. Boy, it's been a long time.</s>ROBERTS: He's going to be going down to see him in San Antonio in the next day or so. And a little bit later on this morning just about an hour and a half from now, we're going to be speaking with George Gonsalves. Get some more thoughts from him as he's had some time to let this sink in. This morning we got extensive team coverage of the rescue. CNN's Ed Lavandera live in San Antonio where the men are this morning. Susan Candiotti is live today in Bogota, Colombia. First, let's get to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's in San Antonio. What's the latest from Brooke Army Medical Center there?</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, the three men slept in the hospital there on the grounds of Brooke Army Medical Center, which you see behind me. They arrived here in San Antonio, as you mentioned, late last night. They arrived by C-17 aircraft at Lackland Air Force Base. Then they were ferried by helicopter back over here to Brooke Army Medical Center. And this is where the long process of medical tests, psychological evaluations will begin in earnest today as well as a debriefing as they meet with military investigators as well. So it's a long road for them. Officials here at Brooke Army Medical Center say that they have extensive medical tests and psychological tests that they want to perform on these three men. They said they learned a lot from POWs during Vietnam and the kind of testing and the kind of medical attention that they need, they feel they need, at this point. So all that begins in earnest today after having arrived here late last night getting probably one of the best night's sleeps you can imagine they've had in at least five years. We do know that these men will bring some difficulties with them. There was one hostage that was released earlier this year in February who described some of the men having physical problems as a result of the plane crash that they had back in February of 2003, which is what led to their capture by the rebels in Colombia. So all of that we imagine will be extensively tested. And, of course, they anxiously await the arrival of many relatives which we suspect will begin happening here in the next few hours as relatives pour into San Antonio to try to meet with them for the first time in five years -- John.</s>ROBERTS: I'm sure there's going to be a whole lot of happy reunions taking place there in the next little while, Ed. You know, we heard about some medical problems. George Gonsalves was saying his son Marc probably had hepatitis. The U.S. ambassador to Colombia is saying that a couple of these hostages, without saying who, are suffering from a parasitic disease called leishmaniasis. Is there any preliminary estimate on how long they may be there at Brooke Army Medical Center before they get a chance to go home?</s>LAVANDERA: I haven't gotten a gauge on that. But from kind of listening to what they've been saying, it sounds what they're preparing for and what they have been preparing for quite some time is an extensive process here in terms of easing them back into society here. They say, look, it's not that easy just to be held captive for five years. It's not like you can just turn around and walk out into every day life and expect that to be a normal, easy transition. So it sounds like what they're preparing for here is a gradual process of allowing that to happen as well as checking out their medical needs. You know, they've been spending five years in the jungles. Of course, you're susceptible to all sorts of disease there. And what I've found interesting was that they're still suffering physical ailments from the plane crash that led to their capture five years ago.</s>ROBERTS: As you suggested, maybe a long road ahead for them but at least they are on that road. Ed Lavandera for us in San Antonio this morning. Ed, thanks.</s>CHETRY: And that daring rescue was a moment of almost unimaginable joy for Ingrid Betancourt. She's a former Colombian presidential candidate seen there walking off the plane. She spent more than six years in captivity. She was kidnapped in 2002 while campaigning in rebel territory in Colombia. Yesterday the 46-year-old talked about her range of emotions when she realized that she was not being transferred to another rebel location, but instead finally being rescued.</s>INGRID BETANCOURT, FORMER COLOMBIAN HOSTAGE: The helicopter went up. I was in my unhappiness, looking at my peers and in this discomfort where all of us were in a bad mood. Everyone is so humiliated. Suddenly I looked, and I looked at Gazas (ph) on the floor. And I said what happened. I don't know how they did it. Mr. President, it was less than five minutes. They took off his clothes. I saw him with a bandanna around his eyes. He was tied up. And the next thing is to hear the major that was heading the operation who said, we are the national military. You are free.</s>CHETRY: And the man she was describing was actually somebody who had been her captor for years. And then she said the shock of seeing him naked on the floor of the plane in handcuffs was really an unbelievable turn for her. The impact in Colombia, the Ingrid Betancourt's rescue, cannot be overstated. Let's bring in CNN's Susan Candiotti. She's live in Bogota for us. And you know for Americans who are not familiar with her or her situation, it would be as if one of our presidential candidates were just snatched off the campaign trail, not seen again for years. So describe just how big of a deal it is for the people there, Susan.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just like that. Very hard to believe, Kiran. Yes, this is a woman who, after all, was kidnapped from a roadblock while she was campaigning with her assistant. And they were snatched up. So, yes, you can make that kind of a comparison. So people here had been in shock about this for years. And an extremely popular figure here. This is a woman who had quite a following. She ran a very unorthodox campaign. For example, she once handed out free Viagra samples as sort of a fight against graft and corruption in this country. Long (ph) has been opposed to drugs and corruption in Colombia's government. And ran a campaign she said that she wanted to bring fresh air to Colombia. So the fact that she is now free, everyone is extremely amazed and very happy about it, happy for her and for her family.</s>CHETRY: So what's next for her, Susan?</s>CANDIOTTI: Well, we have heard that possibly within the next couple of hours a plane will be arriving, a government plane from France. And on board is her family. She is a mother. Her children will be on board. They will greet her. It is unclear once they reunite whether she will get right on that plane and fly back to France. She is divorced. She may go back there to visit her family, to live there. Or she might remain here in Colombia for a time and the reunion might take place at a military base here. So those details are still to be worked out. And then there are the other hostages to think about as well. They had a reunion, some of them did, last night. And eventually they'll be reunited, others will, with their families later this day.</s>CHETRY: All right. Susan Candiotti for us in Bogota, thanks.</s>ROBERTS: For the families of the three rescued Americans, it's a day that they may have thought would never come. CNN's Randi Kaye has got more on their long hostage ordeal and the Colombian rebel group that was holding them.</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than five years in captivity, they are free.</s>MARC GONSALVES, RESCUED FARC HOSTAGE: I'm just waiting to go home.</s>KAYE: This proof of life video was taken just months after Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell were kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a guerrilla group that survives in the jungles and has been at war with the Colombian government for decades. The American hostages were private contractors for Northrop Grumman working for the U.S. government. In February of 2003, their surveillance plane went down in FARC territory.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have lost engine. We are north of 030394 --</s>KAYE: The three surviving American contractors became hostages joining an estimated 750 others, including Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, now free after six years in captivity.</s>INGRID BETANCOURT, RESCUED FARC HOSTAGE (translator): Please join me to thank God. To the Virgin Mary, I prayed a lot. I imagined this moment very often with my mom. Don't cry anymore. You don't have to cry anymore.</s>KAYE: Betancourt, a rising political star in Colombia, was kidnapped while campaigning for president in a FARC stronghold in 2002. This video was taken just hours before she disappeared. Last year a video surfaced showing the three Americans and the presidential candidate sickly but alive.</s>JUAN CARLOS LECOMPTE, INGRID BETANCOURT'S HUSBAND: We are right now in emergency. We cannot wait any longer, more months or more years. We can wait only weeks or days.</s>KAYE: But it's been an excruciating wait with little movement. Marc Gonsalves' mother recently told me she had visited Colombia three times to urge the government to find her son.</s>JO ROSANO, MOTHER OF FARC HOSTAGE: I look around I see all these mountains, and I see my son somewhere up there. And I'm getting no help at all from this government. No help at all.</s>KAYE: Keith Stansell's daughter talked to CNN last year about her dream that she would some day be reunited with her father.</s>LAUREN STANSELL, DAUGHTER OF KEITH STANSELL: I just want to hug him. I just want to hold him. I don't want to worry about catching up anything or telling him anything. I just want to hold my dad.</s>KAYE: A bait and switch before FARC ever knew what hit them. Not even the hostages' family could have dreamed of that. Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.</s>CHETRY: It really is still astounding when you think about how that operation went down, and we'll have much more on exactly how they managed to infiltrate that group of rebels a little bit later in the show. We're also going to continue to follow the amazing rescue of the three Americans and how they're doing. But first at 6:15, an entire town evacuated this morning as the wildfires take a turn for the worst. Then at 6:43, it's a no-win situation literally. A popular state lottery that's not paying up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We discovered that what the lottery was doing was leaving stale tickets on the shelves after the last grand prize winners had been claimed.