William R. Brownfield, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia
Press Conference
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
U.S. Embassy Bogota, Colombia

Ambassador Brownfield: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. First, my apologies for my clothing in this moment. I have arrived directly from Tolemaida and the El Dorado Airport and I'm dressed more or less in the same way that I've been since 1 PM this afternoon.

Second my apologies because I'm going to offer my responses and information today in English because the Colombian Government not only has the responsibility but also the honor to explain this operation to the Colombian people. Tonight, I will direct my words to the American people, to the people of the United States.

And therefore, ladies and gentleman, I will speak in English. You may ask me questions in Spanish, but I will answer this evening in English, because I wish to speak to the people of the United States of America. Ladies and gentleman, at 1:45 this afternoon, two helicopters lifted off from the landing site in the Guaviare province in southern Colombia. On board were 15 human beings who had been seized and held hostage by the FARC, in some cases for more than six years.

Also on board were three American citizens: Mr. Keith Stansell, Mr. Thomas Howes and Mr. Marc Gonsalves. The operation was an operation by which several FARC units were maneuvered into a specific location, and led to believe that they were delivering these hostages to other members of the FARC and to an international NGO. It was conducted in a way that in our collective judgment, the judgment of the Government of Colombia and the judgment of the Government of the United States of America that there would be very little risk to the lives of all 15 hostages.

I was present at Tolemaida Air Base when the Colombian military aircraft with all 15 hostages on board landed. I had the opportunity to meet and greet the three American hostages, and the opportunity to ride with them from Tolemaida to the El Dorado Airport, here in Bogotá. I think it would be very safe to say that those three former hostages were delighted, and are delighted, to be heading home to the United States this evening.

It is my understanding that the wheels are up on their aircraft, and when those wheels next touch surface, they will be in the United States of America, the home of Mr. Stansell, Mr. Howes and Mr. Gonsalves.

Ladies and gentleman, I would like to mention four specific groups of people before I take your questions. First, I want to acknowledge the government of Colombia, and most important the armed forces of Colombia. They performed an extraordinary operation this afternoon. At great risk to their lives, they conducted this operation in a way that brought almost no danger to the hostages, but tremendous danger to those members of the Colombian Armed Forces who were on those two helicopters, as they landed in a jungle clearing in Guaviare. And I say to them, in my own name and the name of the Government that I represent, thank you. We admire you and we owe you enormously.

I would like to direct a few words to the three U.S. families who will very soon be reunited with their sons, husbands, fathers, cousins, and in some cases, I suppose, uncles. I promised to each one of you, as early as last October, that we had in this Embassy no higher priority than the return of your relatives to their homes in the Unites States of America. And I promised you at that time, and again in February of this year, that we would not put their lives at risk. I hope I have complied with those two promises.

Third, I would like to note that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who work for this Embassy, and for the United States Government, who have dedicated their lives for more than five years, to produce what we saw this afternoon: the safe and secure freedom of 15 hostages including three United States citizens.

It is my understanding, and indeed my expectation, that many of them have already begun drinking their much deserved beverages in celebration of today's events, I say to any of them who may be listening to me: I'll let you do it tonight, I expect you in the office ready to work tomorrow morning.

Finally, I would like to note two specific people: first, some of you may notice that we have already begun the preparations here at this Embassy for our celebration of the United States Independence Day, the 4th of July. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, I assure you it's going to be a big celebration at this Embassy this year. And I would draw your attention to the fact that the 4th of July is not only the birthday of the United States of America, I learned on the airplane coming in to Bogota this afternoon, it is also the birthday of Thomas Howes, a former hostage of the FARC.

And my last point, which is a bit more difficult than my other points, I would like to direct a few words to one family who will not have their relative returned. I have spoken to her once on the telephone, her name is Mrs. Janis, and she is the widow of Tommy Janis, the fourth American on that airplane which crashed on February of 2003. And I would like to say to her, and her sons, her children, that each of these three former hostages, said to me, they would not be have survived if not for Tommy Janis.

And I hope that we all remember that this operation was not completely free of victims and those who did not survived. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I will take your questions.

Question: As we understand there was no U.S. government participation, not intelligence or anything else. Is there any chance that you could cooperate for the release of the other hostages, what shape would this take? (delivered in Spanish)

Ambassador Brownfield: The question was the extent to which the USG participated in any way in this operation. I will tell you, as I said at the very beginning: this operation was planned and conceived, trained and executed by the armed forces of the Republic of Colombia, to whom I express my personal appreciation. We have obviously been working closely with the government of Colombia for more than five years in terms of collecting intelligence, cooperating in operations, providing training and mutual assistance, planning together and generally cooperating in everyway we can. That cooperation did in fact produce some of the background that helped produce this successful recovery of fifteen hostages today. I would hope we could continue to cooperate in this noble cause during the months and years to come until such times when the FARC finally responds to the appeal, to the request, to the demands of more than six billion people on this planet to let all of the hostages go now without conditions.

Question: We understand that with the operation there were some FARC members detained. Would you ask for these in extradition, for their role in the hostage taking of the U.S. citizens? Secondly, it had been said that the U.S. judicial system may have considered releasing Sonia and Trinidad if any cooperation was given in the release of the three American hostages. As they are free now, will they be held to account by the full force of the U.S. judicial system? (delivered in Spanish)

Ambassador Brownfield: Once more, I will respond in English this evening. It would be premature to talk about any request for extradition. Premature because we still do not have a clear understanding of who has been detained from the FARC as result of this operation and what their legal status might be. I think it would be a simple matter of common sense to tell you that the U.S. Government reserves the right to request the extradition of anyone who has engaged in conduct that violates the criminal statutes and criminal laws of the United States of America. I do not know if we would do it, when we would do it, with whom we would do it or concerning whom we would do it, but I think it is safe to say that we reserve that right for any individual who has violated the laws of the United States. Your second question mentioned several members who have been publically identified with the FARC and who are currently incarcerated in the United States pursuant to the U.S. legal system, following a trial during which they had their own defense council, their own right to confront witnesses, their own right to offer evidence on their behalf, their own right to present their case before sentencing, their own right to seek and to appeal whatever decisions had been made, in other words all the rights guaranteed by the constitution and the laws of the United States of America. It is traditional in the United States, after one has been tried, convicted and sentenced to serve the time of that sentence in accordance with U.S. legal procedures and law. If at some point in time, someone wishes to make a proposal relating to them or to anyone else in the U.S. penal system, I suppose we would be willing to listen to that proposal. I am not making any proposals right now.

Question: Mr. Ambassador, what message do you send to those who are still in the hands of the FARC? (delivered in Spanish)

Ambassador Brownfield: That's a very good question. And on this day, which for me is the happiest day I have had since arriving in Colombia more than ten months ago, nevertheless we must not forget that there are as I understand it by the FARC's own count 27 hostages that they have defined as politically valuable hostages and between 700 to 2000 other hostages being held by the FARC apparently for economic and financial gain. We must not forget them because so long as there are hostages in the hands of the FARC this mission is not over. My message to them and to their families is that the world has not forgotten them. Today I saw men and one women get off an airplane, some of whom had been held for more than six years and during those six years not for one day were they forgotten, and that is my message to those that are still in the hands of the FARC. I have a message for the FARC, however, and that is that every government in the world, every organization in the world, every religion of which I am aware of in the world has called upon you to release these human beings and I reiterate that call today, now is the time to do it without conditions.

Question: Ambassador, how is the health of the Americans? You spoke with them a little, we haven't had the chance to hear them speak in Colombia. Have they left? When will they arrive? Is one of them sick? Any message for the FARC after what happened today? (delivered in Spanish)

Ambassador Brownfield: I can only speak to the health of the three American hostages Mr. Howles, Mr. Stansell and Mr. Gonsalves. I spent I suppose nearly two hours in their company. The three of them appear to be in very good health. They obviously appear to be very, very happy and delighted to be where they are today. When I asked them about their health two of them told me that in fact they believe they are suffering from Leishmaniasis, an illness that as you know is an illness found in tropical jungle settings. They are looking forward to getting modern medical health care for that illness. It obviously did not have any impact whatsoever on their psychological state. They were delighted no longer to be in the hands of the FARC and now to be on their way back home. I would say based upon my non-professional judgment that their joy at returning home is far greater than any concern they may have had about their health.
My message to the FARC is the same that I just stated. Fifteen of your hostages are now free. That leaves 27 plus 700 to 2000 that are still being held. Why not free them now? There is no reason, no religion, no law no code that justifies holding innocent human beings against their will for political purpose.

Question: Mr. Ambassador, keeping in mind that there were three U.S. citizens involved, did the government of Colombia advise you that such an operation would take place, keeping in mind that your Embassy had committed itself to the families of the hostages to not endanger the lives of their loved ones? Was there contact before the operation? (delivered in Spanish)

Ambassador Brownfield: My government and the government of Colombia consulted and have been consulting for years very closely on all matters related to three U.S. citizens held hostage for the last five years and five months. We consulted about this operation as well. We talked about it a great deal. We cooperated to the extent that we could. We shared information and intelligence and equipment and thinking and training. We offered all support we could consistent with the commitment that we made to those three American families that we would not intentionally place their relatives, their sons, their husbands, their fathers at risk. We did all that. But I repeat for the third time: this was a Colombian operation, planned and conceived by the Colombian armed forces, carried out by extremely brave and valiant members of the Colombian armed forces who placed their lives at risk to bring these 15 captives home. And there is absolutely nothing that I or anyone else in the world can say or do that will diminish in any way the extraordinary courage and valor of those members of the Colombian armed forces. We owe them a great debt.

Question: Was there any U.S. technology used in intelligence gathering by the (Colombian) National Army? (delivered in Spanish)

Ambassador Brownfield: As I said earlier, we have generally a very close cooperative relationship with the Colombian government and all elements of the government that are dedicated to the effort to bring hostages home safely and to improve the security of Colombia. That would include exchange of intelligence, that would include exchange of equipment, that would include training and advice and sharing of experiences in other operations. I will not enter into detail on what we may or may not have done in a technical sense for this operation, but I invite you to draw whatever logical conclusion you wish to draw from my statement that we cooperate on all elements of these efforts to secure the freedom of the U.S., the Franco-Colombian and the Colombian citizen hostages.

Question: Will the U.S. be involved in any more operations to secure the release of more hostages and do you think it was a fortunate coincidence that this event occurred on the same day that John McCain was in Colombia?

Ambassador Brownfield: First question: I ask your patience, we have just completed, less than six hours ago, an extremely complicated, difficult, sensitive and dangerous operation. I would like to be allowed, at least one night before we begin to think about additional operations where we might be able to cooperate. But I do wish to state once more that the government of the U.S. has worked and continues to work closely with the government of Colombia on issues related to hostages, security from terrorism, and security from international crime, and specifically illicit drugs. I see no reason to believe that that commitment will be any less tomorrow or next week than it was today.

The second question involves the visit of one of the two principle candidates for the office of President of the United States in our elections in November. And on this score, I suppose I will be fairly frank with you because I owe an apology to the three United States senators with whom I spent time last night in Cartagena. And I am referring to the senator from Arizona, the senator from Connecticut and the senator from South Carolina. I did not, at that time, brief them on this operation, nor, to the best of my knowledge, did the government of Colombia. I apologize to them from this podium right now, for not having done so. I decided not to do so because I was concerned about the sensitivity of this operation. I offer my apologies to three distinguished and senior members of the United States Senate who might believe that they should have been briefed on this in advance. The fault is mine for not having briefed them and I hope that their pleasure at hearing about the safe release of their three fellow citizens will, perhaps, outweigh their understandable annoyance with me for not having briefed them in advance.

Question: Mr. Ambassador, many of the families of the remaining hostages are concerned that there could be repercussions for their loved ones as a result of this operation. What is your opinion of that and do you feel that the U.S. will increase its aid to Colombia as a result of this successful operation?

Ambassador Brownfield: On the first question about the concern, the understandable, legitimate concerns of the families of those who are still in the hands of the FARC. I say to them as I said earlier this evening: The world has not forgotten. We will continue to work for their safe and prompt release-whether it is the government of the United States, the government of Colombia or any of the other 190 governments of the planet today. I would note, as well that there have been other, shall we say, escapes by former hostages from the FARC. And I would say that history suggests that when you can secure the safe release of any hostage-you should do it. It does not convince me at all that by not releasing, rescuing or recovering hostages, you are somehow making it better for other hostages. I spent two hours today in the company of three former hostages in the hands of the FARC and they said to me that their treatment was no better when some hostages were voluntarily released earlier this year. They said to me that their treatment was no better when certain individuals had escaped and been recovered. That their treatment was no better when the dialogue, the public dialogue was changed in any way, shape or form. They were treated in inhumane conditions, held against their will for five years and five months. And their view was there is not a hostage in the hands of the FARC who is not celebrating today on hearing of the release of these 15 former hostages.

Your second question, of course is a question I cannot answer, because at the end of the day it is decision that has to be made by the institutions of my government in the legislative branch and the executive branch in accordance with our constitution. It is the United States government policy to support the efforts of the government of Colombia to provide a better future for its citizens and through that a better relationship with the region and, eventually a better relationship between Colombia and the United States of America. I hope that today's successful operation will, in fact, establish an even greater sense of commitment on the part of the United States Government to this important cause. I acknowledge that this is a complicated relationship. I acknowledge that it has many different elements to it from security and drugs, commerce and economy, to human rights and humanitarian assistance, support for political institutions and support for displaced persons and many, many other elements as well. But my hope is that the outcome of today's very happy news will perhaps make it clearer to my 300 million fellow Americans why it is that we have such a serious stake in the outcome of what will happen here in Colombia and how it is that our assistance in the past years has in fact produced a far better result than we were hoping for as recently as yesterday.

Question: Mr. Ambassador, what will happen to hostages from now on-does the U.S. government have any plans for them?

Ambassador Brownfield: I am not precisely certain what will happen in the medium term future; this evening they will fly to the United States. They will be taken to a U.S. government hospital where medical personnel will assist them in any way that they possibly can to ensure that they are in the best physical health. By tomorrow, I would guess they will be in direct contact with their families -whether by telephone or by personal visit, obviously will depend upon the three individual men and their families, what works best for them. What their future will be is up to them. Because, for the first time in 5 years and 5 months, Tom Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves will determine their own future. They will determine where they are going to work-or whether they are going to work at all. They will decide where they are going to live. They will decide what they choose to do each day of their lives and I will say to all of you that I think they have earned that right over the last 5 years and 5 months and I hope the rest of their lives are as perfect as it is possible to be because they have paid a high and heavy price to get to where they are now.

Question: Ambassador, what is their schedule like? Where are they going? What are they going to do now? What have you planned? Secondly, considering what is happening to the FARC, would the department of state lift the travel warning for US citizens or would you maybe intensify it for fear of reprisals for what has taken place? (delivered in Spanish)

Ambassador Brownfield: It's not my place to state exactly where the three former hostages will be going. Although I suppose it is irresistible for me not to say that in fact they are now on their way to an undisclosed location in the state of Texas, a state I know particularly well, being a native son thereof. I do not how long they will stay there. As I said earlier, that decision will now be made by them. They have earned that right, they will decide when they choose to leave, they will decide what they choose to do, they are once again free citizens of the United States of America, in their own country. And by the way, we did a small symbolic ceremony to memorialize that point, just as they were boarding the U.S. air force aircraft that is flying them now to Texas with, ladies and gentlemen, less than four hours of advance time, we processed and handed to them three U.S. passports, using the photographs that were made available as part of the proof of life exercise last November. I can safely predict that they would have had no difficulty entering the United States with or without passports but we here at this Embassy thought it would be important to in essence say to them, welcome home, to place in each of their hands brand new United States passports and we did so, and it required several hundred people to do a rushed job on something that would normally take several weeks. And there is not one of them who was not proud to do that.

Your second question deals with the overall security situation. Ladies and gentlemen, I am not going to talk in detail about our own security measures here. I will say to you that we obviously take seriously anything that involves the FARC, an organization, I remind you, that is on the foreign terrorist organization list, established by law in the United States of America to identify those organizations who conduct acts of terrorism with global reach. We take the threat from them very seriously. We are constantly monitoring what we know and what they are doing. By the same token, hundreds of thousands of American citizens come to Colombia every year as visitors and as tourists. They seem to enjoy their visits. I will not try to stop them from coming. I will say to them, as I say to our people here in this Embassy: "Use your common sense, do not do something stupid."

But I am not going to stand here and say to you that because of this extremely happy event, 15 former hostages and three US citizens going home, we should all move into a bunker and not step out of it for the next two or three years. At the end of the day, I say to you, that Colombia today is better than it was this morning. Fifteen families, three U.S. and 12 Colombian are enjoying the happiest day that they have had for more than five years and five months. And I say to everyone of them that it was an honor and a joy to be able to participate in the small manner that we participated to allow them to rejoin their relatives. That is my message, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being with us this evening. I am delighted to have talked to you and tomorrow I shall offer some words in Spanish.

(Applause)