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UPDATED: 09 Aug 2007 GMT
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Rewards for Justice

Remembrance Ceremony for the three American Hostages, 13 February 2007

Thanks to everyone for coming today. Thanks for the solidarity and the support you're showing for Keith Stansell, Tom Howes, Marc Gonzalves, and their families. Today, Tom, Keith and Marc will have been held hostage by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) for four years, but we remain unwavering in our efforts to return them to their families.

We can never forget Tom Janis and Luis Alcides Cruz who were murdered by the FARC shortly after their plane crashed on 13 February 2003. We remember Tom and Luis as heroes who did not die in vain, but who died for the cause of freedom.

This Embassy is in the front lines of the fight to make the world a safer place. As individuals we are committed to a safer America while upholding the ideals of our country. The Government of Colombia is our steadfast partner in our daily efforts to locate Tom, Keith and Marc.

As partners with the Colombian government we are committed to helping defeat the twin evils of drugs and terrorism. Their unrelenting commitment to secure a lasting peace, free of drugs and terror, is our commitment; the pain they suffer when one of their own dies is also our pain. We are united with our Colombian counterparts in their intense determination to further the rule of law, the cause of liberty and defeat the terrorists.

No one can doubt the fight against terrorism can cost human lives, but the responsibility for those costs lies not with those seeking peace and secure homes with democratic governments, but with the narcoterrorists who believe other people's lives are only objects for them to use in their battle against liberty. The families of the victims of terrorism suffer horribly and we offer our solidarity and sympathy to them. Terrorists seek to inflict pain merely to demonstrate their power without regard to individuals or their families. We hold the FARC accountable to Colombian society, to American society, and to all of Mankind for the terrible cruelty they inflict on their victims and the murders they commit while they export illicit narcotics. Natural law and human instinct require a basic respect for the life and dignity of others. The FARC seems to have lost those very basic human instincts.

We continue to make the freedom of Keith, Tom, and Marc our priority in this Embassy. We work closely with the government of Colombia to seek their freedom. We know that President Uribe and his government feel the pain of hostages kept for years in a cruel captivity. The deaths of Tom Janis and Luis Alcides Cruz and the suffering of three Americans held hostage for four years inspires us and gives us strength to continue with firmness and vigor until we have achieved freedom for all three of the hostages.

The Governments of Colombia and the United States share a common conviction that those held captive against their will must be freed. We share a common conviction that all our citizens have an inalienable right to live in freedom and security. The pain Americans and Colombians have felt due to the criminal acts of terrorists only strengthens our governments' resolve to bring our citizens home safely. Our common convictions create an unshakeable bond between our peoples.

As today we renew our efforts to find our friends, our minds must be filled more with determination than with sadness. And we will not forget that it was the FARC who brutally murdered two of our colleagues, and who are still holding three others. We hold the FARC responsible for their safe return.

Let us go on today confident our hard work and commitment will one day succeed. Tom, Keith and Marc, you are not forgotten, you will not be forgotten, you will come home.

Thank you



Bogotá, D.C.
February 13, 2007