Rebels Admit They Don't Have Hostage Boy

Farc captive to have been freed in deal was in Bogota foster home

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 5, 2008 6:45 AM CST

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Rebels Admit They Don't Have Hostage Boy — Ivan Rojas, the brother of Clara Rojas, who's being held captive by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for nearly six years, speaks to journalists in Bogota, Friday, Jan. 4, 2008. Colombia's top prosecutor said Friday that DNA analysis indicates a 3-year-old boy living in a Bogota... (Associated Press)

Rebels in Colombia have acknowledged that the 3-year-old boy in foster care in Bogota is Emmanuel, the son of one of the hostages they are holding and the focus of a much-publicized release that fell through last week. Farc rebels had announced the release of Emmanuel, his mother Clara Rojas, and another Colombian politician to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The boy, now 3, was left at a hospital in a malnourished condition in July 2005; last week he was DNA-tested and found to be a match with Clara Rojas' mother. "We now know that the whole time it was clear that the Farc would never have delivered the boy because they never had him," a government minister said. The leftist rebels still hold some 45 high-profile hostages and as many as 750 others, BBC reports. (More FARC stories.)

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