Jhon Frank Pinchao Blanco (born 1970) is a Colombian

policeman A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

with the rank of

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

who was kidnapped by the

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian confl ...

(FARC) guerrilla groupEL TIEMPO.com
/ref> after Farc's attack on the town of Mitú, Vaupés Department on November 1, 1998. He escaped in 2007.

Hostage

The attack on Mitú lasted 12 hours until the policemen ran out of ammunition, then FARC took over the town for 3 days. Pinchao was among the approximately 60 policemen taken as hostages. During the FARC-Government peace process (1999-2002) the

Colombian government The Government of Colombia is a republic with separation of powers into executive, judicial and legislative branches. Its legislature has a congress, its judiciary has a supreme court, and its executive branch has a president. The citiz ...

brokered a deal with the FARC and all of the low ranking policemen held as hostages were freed. The FARC did not release seven high-ranking officers, including Pinchao. In July 2003 the FARC allowed a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, Jorge Enríque Botero, to interview them. After that, Pinchao was not seen again until after his escape in 2007. According to the

Colombian Army The National Army of Colombia ( es, Ejército Nacional de Colombia) is the land warfare service branch of the Military Forces of Colombia. With over 361,420 active personnel as of 2020, it is the largest and oldest service branch in Colombia, ...

, the guerrilla commander in charge of the hostages was Gerardo Aguilar Ramírez, aka "César," Commander of the Southern Bloc's 1st Front and member of the Central Command of the FARC.

Freedom

In a televised interview with

Caracol TV Caracol is a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District, of Belize. It is situated approximately south of Xunantunich, and the town of San Ignacio, and from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau ...

, Pinchao partially narrated his quest to freedom. He mentioned that while in his almost nine (9) years of captivity he had seen political figures

Ingrid Betancourt Ingrid may refer to: * Ingrid (given name) * Ingrid (record label), and artist collective * Ingrid Burley, rapper known mononymously as Ingrid * Tropical Storm Ingrid, various cyclones * 1026 Ingrid, an asteroid * InGrid, the grid computing pr ...

and Clara Rojas also held as captives. He had also seen the three

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

contractors

Keith Stansell Keith Donald Stansell is an American Northrop Grumman employee who was captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC) and was held hostage from February 13, 2003 to July 2, 2008. He w ...

, Thomas Howes and

Marc Gonsalves Marc David Gonsalves (born 1972) is an American Northrop Grumman employee who was abducted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and was held hostage from February 13, 2003, to July 2, 2008. He was rescued in Operation Jaque, along ...

also kidnapped by the FARC.US Embassy in Bogotatownhall.com; Colombia Hostage Was With 3 Americans
/ref> Pinchao planned a way to escape for a year, and on April 28, 2007, he walked through virgin jungle for seventeen days until an indigenous group took him to a group of Police's Jungle Commandos, who were in the area destroying narcotics and narcoprocessing labs in the jungles of Vaupés by the Papuri River in the municipality of Pacoa. Pinchao was severely dehydrated and showed signs of malnourishment. On May 15, 2007, Pinchao was transferred to a police base in

San José del Guaviare San José del Guaviare () is a town and municipality in Colombia, capital of the department of Guaviare by the Guaviare River The Guaviare is a tributary of the Orinoco in Colombia. It flows together with the upper Orinoco (until here also call ...

and then to

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

. He was taken for check-ups at the National Police Central Hospital where he finally was reunited with his family.

Family

Pinchao is son of Luis Evelio Pinchao and Rosa Blanco. Jhon Pinchao Blanco has a son, who was born while he was in captivity.

Hostage

Freedom

Family

See also

References

See also