Marc Gonsalves
Marc Gonsalves was captured by Farc on February 13, 2003, after his airplane crashed while flying over Colombia on a narcotics reconnaissance mission.1
Gonsalves, fellow Americans Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes, Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 11 other hostages were rescued on July 2, 2008.2
Fast Facts
- Birthplace: Bristol, Connecticut
- Former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer1
- Hired by Northrop Grumman in 20021
- Contracted by the Pentagon to survey Colombian jungles1
- Were looking for Cocaine laboratories1
- Surveillance plane crashed on February 13, 20081
- Crash thought to have been caused by mechanical failure1
- Accompanied by Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell and Thomas Janis
- Janis shot and killed by Farc1
- Howes, Stansell and Gonsalves taken hostage
- Released on July 2, 2008
Homecoming
Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas on Wednesday, July 2, 2008. They are expected to be reunited with their families on Thursday evening, July 3, 2008. The former hostages must first undergo medical tests. Gonsalves' relatives are flying to Texas from Connecticut for the reunion.3
Return Home Speech
On Monday, July 7, 2008, Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell spoke at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. During Gonsalves' speech, he stated that FARC claims to want equality and make Colombia a better place, but they are liars. He continued by calling them terrorists and not revolutionaries. Gonsalves added that FARC's real interests are in "drug trafficking and extortion."4
Quotes
"They are not a revolutionary group. They are terrorists -- terrorists with a capital T." -Marc Gonsalves on FARC4
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