Colombia undeterred by failed rescue effort

The American Embassy in Bogotá declined comment on what effect the failed rescue might have on the American hostages. In a release, State Department spokes-man Richard Boucher said that the US was "appalled" and "deeply saddened" by the "cold-blooded murders" of Governor Gaviria and Mr. Echeverri and the eight kidnapped soldiers.

The European Union has also condemned the killings.

Family members of the kidnapped, including the deceased-governor's wife, Yolanda Pinto de Gaviria, have long been pushing for a prisoner exchange. Now, they are angry, condemning the bungled rescue effort and calling even more urgently for an accord.

In an extraordinary appeal, Ms. Pinto pardoned the guerrillas who assassinated her husband during a radio interview on Wednesday. She said she would continue fighting for a deal with the FARC.

"We have to pardon. It is the only road to reconciliation. I will continue fighting to construct that road, as my husband would have wished," she told RCN radio.

"Please, abstain from military operations" in the case of kidnapped Sen. Ingrid Betancourt, pleaded her husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, on local television and in the newspapers.

But with her twins due in just one month, Medina held a different view. "The first option is a humanitarian accord," she said, but only under certain conditions similar to those Uribe has stated.

Like Uribe, Medina said that the released guerrillas must not be allowed back into the FARC's ranks to commit more crimes and kidnappings, and must also turn in their weapons.

"When one has a kidnapped loved one, you want them to come home alive," Medina says. "But you also have to think about the country." Letting the guerrillas return to the FARC would promote a "vicious cycle" that "won't serve the country or practically anybody," she adds.

In a speech Monday morning, just before the rescue attempt was launched, Uribe said that a humanitarian accord would only be acceptable if supervised by the United Nations.

He added that the jailed guerrillas must be deported to a friendly country, such as France (which has not accepted such a deal), and that the FARC must release all kidnapped victims - which total in the thousands - not just political prisoners.

As many as 1,000 guerrillas are currently held in Colombian prisons.

According to public-opinion polls published Thursday, 73 percent of Colombians agree with Uribe's tough stance towards the FARC following the executions, while 44 percent don't support a humanitarian accord under any circumstances. Twenty-eight percent would only do so under the conditions proposed by Uribe, while only 22 percent said an accord must be struck as soon as possible.

Medina says she has not received any communication, or "proof of life," as it is known here, from Stansell since that fateful day. She wants to know basic things about him - whether he is sick and if he is able to sleep.

"It has totally changed my life," she says. "We need Keith. [Right now the babies] are not going to be with their father."

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