Colombian hostages say life grew ever more dire as military closed in

A meal was rice and beans. Bed was the ground under a patched plastic tarp. They bathed in rivers, and when they weren't chained by the neck to trees, they were forced on long marches to new hideouts under the jungle canopy. Hostages freed in a daring helicopter rescue said Thursday their grueling existence as captives of Colombian rebels worsened in recent months as government troops closed in and supplies became more scarce. "In the last year, it was tougher to get food. There was little variety, no fruit, no vegetables," said Ingrid Betancourt, the former presidential candidate who spent six years in captivity. Betancourt, three U.S. military contractors and 11 Colombian soldiers and police officers were freed Wednesday in a daring rescue from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. In their first hours of freedom,... [read full story]