The World - News from Aug. 17, 1988
Two American students from Chicago were released by leftist guerrillas in Colombia after more than 10 months as captives in the Amazon jungle, the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, the capital, said. Stephen Koneman, 22, said in a broadcast interview in Colombia that he and Jason McLachan, 21, were in a canoe in the Amazon last Oct. 8 when they were captured by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces. Koneman said he and McLachan are geographers and that the guerrillas apparently thought they were CIA agents. Koneman said he and McLachan convinced their captors “we were innocent” and the two were released on Sunday to Bishop Jose Luis Serna Alzate in southern Caqueta state, the embassy said.
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