Ex-Captive Describes Years With Guerrillas

Colombian Survived Caesarean in Jungle

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan. 12 -- Clara Rojas, one of two hostages freed Thursday after being held captive for years by Colombian rebels, gave birth to her son nearly four years ago by kitchen-knife Caesarean and has not seen him since he was taken from the jungle at 8 months old.

"Very soon I will meet him, and little by little we'll start sharing what for us is a rebirth," Rojas told reporters late Friday in Caracas, where she and fellow captive Consuelo Gonz¿lez met their families and thanked Venezuelan President Hugo Ch¿vez for engineering their release.

Her nearly six years in captivity were marked by long treks through the forest, time spent in chains, and terrifying aerial raids. With a photo of her son dangling from her neck, Rojas said it wasn't until two weeks ago that she learned what had happened to 3 1/2 -year-old Emmanuel, when she heard on the radio that he was in a foster home in Bogota.

The handover of Rojas and Gonz¿lez was the most significant hostage release in the Colombian conflict since 2001, when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, freed about 300 soldiers and police officers.

Rojas -- the running mate of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who remains in captivity -- spoke in general terms about the rebel who fathered her son, said to be a rank-and-file guerrilla named Rigo.

"I never saw the boy's father again," she said in one Colombian radio interview.

"I don't have any information about the boy's father. What's more, I don't have any idea if he even knows he's the boy's father," Rojas said at a news conference, holding the hand of her mother. "The information I have is that he could even have died. I don't have any confirmation."

After she learned she was pregnant, Rojas shared the news with her fellow captives -- "this happiness but also, of course, the anxiety."

She was later separated from the rest and moved to a tent where she waited out the final months alone, sleeping on a cot and trying to "have the peace to face the situation of the birth."

She asked for a doctor, but none came. In April 2004 the contractions started, and she endured a full day of difficult labor. Rojas said the rebels, including a male nurse who was in charge, explained she would need a Caesarean section because of risks to both her and the baby.

"And I said, well, I'll put it in the hands of God," Rojas said. When she awoke from the anesthesia, one rebel said to her: "Clara, don't move. . . . It's a boy."

She named him Emmanuel, "because he was a gift from God." The boy suffered a broken arm at birth when he was pulled out by the nurse, Rojas said.