January 9, 2008 ·

A timeline has developed of how a small boy held by rebels in the jungle ended up with a foster family in Colombia’s capital of Bogotá.

By JENNY CAROLINA GONZALEZ

Special to The Miami Herald


EL RETORNO, Colombia —
This town of 4,000 deep in Colombia’s southern jungle, ironically named The Return, is where the boy now known as Emmanuel began his long journey from a guerrilla hostage to freedom.

To Colombian government officials, neighbors and friends, he was a very sick child named Juan David Gómez Tapiero. But DNA tests showed he is almost certainly Emmanuel, born in captivity to a politician kidnapped by FARC guerrillas.

His story created worldwide headlines when the FARC offered to release him, his mother, and another hostage to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. But few people, including FARC leaders, knew at the time that the guerrillas no longer had the boy.

A visit by The Miami Herald to this largely jungled region some 310 miles south of the capital city of Bogotá produced the first detailed account of Emmanuel’s path from El Retorno to headline-maker, though many questions remain unanswered.

In early June 2005, José Crisanto Gómez, a 37-year-old peasant, arrived here by boat after a one-day trip from his tiny village of La Paz, according to several residents. La Paz was then under the control of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a leftist guerrilla group better known as FARC.

Gómez arrived with two sickly children, seeking medical care for them. One, a boy of about 11 months, had what medical personnel here described as one of the worst health profiles they had seen: malaria, a broken arm, severe malnutrition, anemia, a high fever, diarrhea and leishmaniasis, a serious skin disease common in the jungle.

`IT WAS DEPRESSING’

The public clinic here immediately transferred him to the hospital in the provincial capital, San José del Guaviare, only 17 miles but a 40-minute drive away.

”It is not common to receive children in the [bad] health that Juan David arrived,” said Rosario Neira, director of the San José hospital. “It was depressing, everything that had come together on just one child. It made for sadness.”

”Anyone would have fallen apart before this child, with so many diseases,” she added. “He didn’t raise his eyes. He got toys but did not pick them up. He did not stand but dragged himself on his butt. He cried but no tears came because of the malnutrition.”

Given what is now known about the boy, his poor health is not surprising.

Emmanuel was born in a FARC jungle camp to one-time vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas, kidnapped by the rebels along with presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt nearly six years ago during a campaign trip to a rural area. The father was reported to be a rebel who had a consensual relationship with Rojas.

SIMILAR ACCOUNTS

One El Retorno resident who says José Crisanto Gómez told him the full story in confidence recalled that Gómez had said the boy was left in his care in La Paz by FARC fighters during a battle with Colombian army troops. The rebels promised to return for him in a week.

A close friend of Gómez’s wife, Liliana, 24, said she also was told that the FARC intended to leave the child for only a few days. The friend, who asked for anonymity because of concerns for her safety, added that the FARC wanted the child’s broken arm treated by Liliana’s stepfather, a folk healer.

`JUST AN INSTRUMENT’

The friend and the El Retorno resident both insist that not until about two weeks ago did Gómez begin to suspect that the boy was the son of Clara Rojas. They also deny rumors that Gómez was a member of 12,000-strong FARC, Latin America’s oldest and most powerful guerrilla group.

”He was just an instrument. What blame can he have if the only thing he did was lend a hand? Besides, it is a common practice for the guerrillas to leave their children in the care of other families,” said one Gómez neighbor, who also asked to remain anonymous because of fear.

Read the rest in the Miami Herald.

If you haven’t taken the time to reflect on how fortunate you are, then read the story in its entirety.