MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Released Colombian hostage meets baby son after three years

A big hug after three years

Released Colombian hostage Clara Rojas had an emotional reunion Sunday in Bogota with her son Emmanuel, three years after he was taken from her while she was in captivity in Colombia's jungle, according to government sources.

"They have met each other. It was a very emotional moment" the official said of the meeting, which came three days after the cocaine funded FARC rebel group released politician Rojas after holding her hostage nearly six years. Rojas, 44, who only found out her jungle-born three-year-old son was alive in a New Year's eve radio broadcast, met the toddler Sunday afternoon after flying into Bogota's military airport with her family from Caracas. "I will try to see Emmanuel for a little bit in private as soon as possible," Rojas told a news conference shortly after arriving on a Colombian air force plane at the military airport along with her mother and brother. "The boy is apparently very well," she said, holding a bouquet of flowers. "Today I was told he had something for me". On the tarmac, the politician was met by Colombian government officials and hugged the director of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF), which has been caring for her son Emmanuel, who was born to Rojas and a FARC soldier in April 2004 but then removed from her care at eight months. The emotional meeting Sunday capped weeks of drama that began in early December when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced they would release Rojas, Emmanuel and Colombian politician Consuelo Gonzalez into the hands of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. That release never materialized, and the rebels later admitted they did not have the child in their hands and that he was in the care of an orphanage in Bogota. Rojas, campaign manager for French-Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt when both were captured in February 2002, and Gonzalez were finally released to Chavez last Thursday. Before leaving Caracas, Rojas expressed "great emotion" about the prospect of her reunion with Emmanuel and thanked "Venezuela, the Venezuelan government and people for their efforts in her liberation".