(11 Apr 1999) Spanish/Nat
A young rebel fighter and her hostage boyfriend escaped to freedom from Colombia’s Marxist guerrillas after trekking for six days through dense jungle.
The couple’s romance became known on Sunday when the couple and a third government soldier gave a press conference following their escape.
The 16-year-old rebel fled with her boyfriend Roque Antonio Montilva and Francisco Arteaga Correa from rebel the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia or FARC.
The 16-year-old female guerrilla whose love for a soldier led her to desert the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Diana Patricia fell in love with a captive held for eight months by the FARC guerrillas and led him and another soldier to safety after a six-day trek through the jungles of northwest Colombia.
Roque Montilva and Jose Francisco Arteaga were among 12 members of a security force kidnapped last August during a major FARC offensive.
After falling in love, the escaped Montilva said the pair began to exchange romantic letters.
FARC chiefs at the camp in the embattled banana-growing area of Uraba discovered
the affair.
They demanded Diana dig a huge ditch – it was then the trio hatched a plan to escape.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Well, the first letter I wrote which she got I said I would like to run away. I told her I wanted to escape. In another note she said yes but if they caught me they would not have done anything. They would have tied me up and thrown me into some hole. But with her they would have killed her."
SUPER CAPTION: Roque Antonio Montilva, Escaped rebel hostage
The three came to military barracks in Uraba late on Saturday.
They had walked – often barefoot – and swum across dangerous rivers and ate forest fruits to survive.
They often heard FARC rebels firing shots in their pursuit.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish – Paraphrased)
"When I was listening to what they were going to do, he said let’s climb a tree. I said no way. They will kill you. Not for anything. Keep going, keep moving forward. That’s what I said to you."
SUPER CAPTION: Francisco Arteaga Correa, Escaped rebel hostage
The young Diana Patricia said she was happy to have escaped.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"No. I feel very pleased to be here with you because, really, it was very bad where I was."
SUPER CAPTION: Diana Patricia, Former FARC rebel
The two soldiers who escaped were just a fraction of the 350 captives currently held by
FARC.
Rebel chiefs have demanded the government free some 450 Marxist guerrilla fighters
being held in prisons across the country.
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