Hi Chatters and Tweeters,

It is over!!!!!!! The rebels kept their word and released the last two
birders today. This message was on CNN and I have to thank them for being the
most reliable source of news during this whole terrible thing. CNN news site
can be reached at www.cnn.com

U.S. Hostages Freed by Colombian Rebels



Reuters
25-APR-98
By Karl Penhaul

LOS ALPES, Colombia (Reuters) - Marxist rebels Saturday freed the last two of
four U.S. bird-watchers taken hostage in mountains outside Bogota, ending
their 34-day kidnap ordeal.

Foreign and local reporters witnessed the release of Peter Shen of New York
and Todd Mark of Houston, who were handed over to Red Cross officials by
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels.

They were freed in the same rugged mountains east of the capital where the
FARC released Louise Augustine, an ailing former nun from Chillicothe,
Illinois, Friday.

Fighting between FARC rebels and army troops raged in the area for the second
straight day Saturday and mortar bombs pounded guerrilla positions in the
mountains all morning, as the FARC prepared to set Shen and Mark free.

All three, together with a fourth American, Thomas Fiori of New York, were
traveling together on a bird-watching expedition when they were snatched at a
FARC roadblock about 35 miles (50 km) outside the Colombian capital on March
23.

The FARC maintains that Fiori was released in early April. But Shen, a
35-year-old research scientist, said his fellow New Yorker actually escaped.

``Anybody who could have gotten away should have done so,'' Shen, who said he
and the other Americans were handcuffed at night, told reporters.

``Being held hostage is a crime against humanity, it's a violation of human
rights,'' he said. ``And after this you can fully understand the importance of
that right.''

Both Shen and Mark said they feared for Fiori's life after he bolted to
freedom, since they were constantly led to believe that they would be shot if
caught trying to flee.

``We were afraid for his life. We thought he may have been killed,'' Shen
said.

This was in contrast to comments made by Augustine minutes after her release
Friday, when she told reporters she and her fellow Americans were well treated
and never threatened in any way.

``We have always valued our freedom, that is an American right,'' Shen added.

The New Yorker said rebels stripped him and his companions of their bird-
watching equipment after their capture. But both he and Mark said they
believed they heard the call of a rare species, the Cundinamarca Antpitter,
during their captivity.

Asked if he would risk returning to Colombia to confirm their finding, Shen
said: ``What we would like to do is come back and have a 'do-not-hassle-us'
pass.''

The Soviet-inspired FARC, Colombia's largest and oldest guerrilla army,
carries out kidnappings to fund its war effort.

The release of Shen and Mark, along with that of Augustine -- who was badly
injured in a fall during her captivity -- came after Colombia media agreed to
broadcast a six-point FARC communique denouncing what it described as a long
history of U.S. intervention in Colombia's guerrilla war.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.
Great birding and find that next lifer!

John (One of Birders2)

John+Irma=2, We are birders, too.

John C. LeVine
Birders2 at aol.com
Los Angeles, CA

Please put <To Birders2> in subject line when e-mailing us personally. I do
not open all of the 200-300 e-mails I receive each day, but I want to be sure
to read your e-mails to us. Thanks!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The problem with Modern Man is he can no longer
see the stars through his city lights!

A thought on a moonless night in Big Bend National Park 4/30/97


April 25, 1998
3:02 pm PDT