Rebels used kitchen knife in Caesarian birth of hostage baby

COLOMBIAN rebels used a kitchen knife to carry out a Caesarian section to deliver the baby of one of their captives in a jungle camp, the freed hostage has revealed.

Clara Rojas, released after six years last week, has described the trauma of the birth and the impending joy at being reunited with her son, Emmanuel, now three, in what she says will be a "rebirth".

After being released along with another Colombian, Consuelo Gonzalez, Rojas said her main priority was seeing her son, who was fathered by one of the guerrillas – believed to be one of her guards – but she has shed no light on the nature of their relationship. Her son was taken from her at eight months and has been living in a foster home in Bogota.

"Very soon I will meet him and, little by little, we'll start sharing what for us is a rebirth," Rojas said in Caracas, where she and Gonzalez met their families and thanked Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for engineering their release.

Rojas, 44, said she gave birth on April 16, 2004.

Emmanuel sustained a broken arm during the birth, when he was pulled out by a rebel nurse, she said. "I gave him the name Emmanuel because he was a gift from God. He was so small and so cute. What most amazed me most was his smile."

After the risky jungle delivery, Rojas spent 40 days in bed under the care of a female guerrilla. Once recovered, she was allowed to see her baby for only a few hours each day.

Former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, kidnapped along with Rojas in 2002 and still in captivity, knitted a blanket for the newborn.

"It was difficult (raising the child] because there were military issues – the helicopters overhead and the fact we were isolated and unable to leave," Rojas said.

The guerrillas helped carry the boy through the jungles, she said. After eight months, the baby, suffering from leishmaniasis, a parasite illness common in the jungle, was separated from Rojas for good.

Rojas wrote to Manuel Marulanda, the commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, pleading with him to turn Emmanuel over to her mother. "I was always worried to know where my baby was," she said.

The next time Rojas received news of her son was just over a week ago, when President Alvaro Uribe, in a New Year's Eve speech she heard on radio, accused the Farc of delaying the handover of Rojas, Emmanuel and former congresswoman Gonzalez because they did not have the child in their custody.

It was later confirmed he had been living in a Bogota foster home. "I was totally surprised because this wasn't what (the Farc] told me," said Rojas. "I thought they freed him through the International Red Cross."

Even though Rojas has not seen her son in about three years, she has big plans for him: "I want him to start studying this year."

Rojas, an aide to Betancourt, said she knows little about the rebel fighter who fathered her son and will raise the boy on her own."I don't have any idea if he even knows he's the boy's father," Rojas said. "The information I have is that he could even have died."

Elvira Forero, head of Colombia's child welfare agency, said she had assured Rojas the authorities were ready to hand over Emmanuel "whenever she's ready". Rojas said she will return to Bogota in the coming days.

Rojas said one source of comfort for the captives was listening to the radio. She recalled weeping with joy one Christmas when she heard her brother wish her the best on a programme for hostages' relatives.

Gonzalez described how some hostages would sleep, bathe and wash their clothes while chained by the neck. She said her daily routine of sleeping on the jungle floor and surviving on rice and beans was interrupted occasionally by aerial raids. "When bombs are falling all around you, it's when you really understand the horror of war," she said.

Both women said their captors often said little to them – at best a few encouraging words. Rojas was kidnapped in February 2002 along with Betancourt, who was campaigning for the presidency. Rojas said the rebels placed her and Betancourt in chains after they tried to escape once.

The two were separated three years ago and Rojas has not seen Betancourt since. "I'm worried about her health," said Rojas. "It hurts me deeply. I hope she is free soon."

In a video released in November, Betancourt appeared haggard – a dramatic change for a politician who once was a fitness fanatic. Rojas said she was encouraged by France's pressure on behalf of Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen, and other captives.

Gonzalez plans to work for the release of the remaining hostages. Chavez, meanwhile, took the side of the leftist rebels in a provocative speech, calling the guerrillas "true armies" and asking the international community to stop classifying them as terrorists in order to open a path to peace.

Colombia's US-allied government, which has made eradicating the rebels a top priority, reacted with outrage. Interior minister Carlos Holguin said Colombia "cannot accept a request of this sort".

Asked if she sees the Farc as a terrorist group, Rojas did not answer directly but called it "a criminal organisation", condemning its kidnappings as "a total violation of human dignity" and saying some captive police and soldiers were kept in chains at all times. Gonzalez said she was never put in chains, but that the entire experience was "a sort of torture".