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 The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee unanimously
passed the "Captive Act," which would allow the former prisoners to
claim some of the money U.S. authorities have confiscated from the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a rebel group tied to
cocaine trafficking.
If it becomes law, the act would enable other victims of designated
foreign terrorist groups to go after frozen drug money if a court
rules that they are entitled to damages and there is a link between
the organization that harmed them and drug money.
That change could become increasingly important as more groups
designated by the United States as international terrorist
organizations fund their operations through sales of opium, cocaine
or other drugs.
The Department of Justice had opposed a previous version of the law,
fearing it could make it harder to use confiscated assets as
leverage to convince criminals to change their behavior or leave
foreign governments open to claims, even if they were no longer
deemed to be state supporters of terrorism.
 But those concerns have been addressed in the current version of the
legislation, and the administration has not opposed it.
The committee vote was an important victory for Marc Gonsalves,
Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes, Department of Defense contractors
captured on Feb. 13, 2003, when their plane crash landed during a
drug surveillance operation in FARC-controlled territory. The rebels
executed their U.S. pilot.
PEACE TALKS
Their case has largely slipped from public notice, but the more than
50-year war between the FARC and Colombia's government is back in
the spotlight as negotiators try to end the conflict through
negotiations in Cuba.
A raid by Colombian forces freed the contractors on July 2, 2008,
along with French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 11
other hostages.
The three men, the longest-held American hostages in Colombia,
endured brutal conditions. Often in cages and chained by the neck,
they survived torture, starvation and repeated mock executions.
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"I would never wish what happened to me on my worst enemy. But I'm
glad I wasn't alone there," Gonsalves told Reuters in a telephone
interview.
Gonsalves said they were held so long that he and Stansell, who
previously had not spoken Spanish, became fluent. And they watched
their guards, many of whom were children when they were captured,
grow into adults.
"In the beginning, I was like 'My gosh, I won't last another few
weeks here,' and then a few months go by, and then years, and then
more years," he said.
In 2012, a Florida judge awarded the former hostages $318 million,
to be paid from bank accounts seized from Colombian drug traffickers
linked to the FARC. But they have been able to claim only a tiny
portion of that money because the law empowering the United States
to take the funds does not contain language allowing the money to be
paid to victims.
The "Captive Act," which changes that, must be passed by the full
House and Senate, and signed by President Barack Obama, to become
law. The bill's backers expect it to pass in May.
"Our bill corrects this injustice and allows these heroes and other
victims of terrorism to collect blocked assets derived from drug
proceeds," Representative Bill Posey, a bill sponsor, told Reuters.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Don Durfee and Tom
Brown)
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