Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-08-Speech-3-005"
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"en.20081008.1.3-005"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a very emotional thing for me to be here with you today, on the very day when the United Nations and the European Union are commemorating the
60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights together.
Thank you to all of you. Thank you for opening your hearts to this tragedy such a long way away. When I thought about the creation of a status of victims of terrorism and I talked to the UN about the need to allow room for expression to the families of the victims, I thought of the example you gave us. I know you welcomed my family, my mother, my children, and you listened to them. In the jungle, when I knew that, it made all the difference to me. Through your generosity, the European Parliament has become a platform to tell the world about the scale of the barbarity we experienced and that more than 3 000 of my compatriots are still experiencing.
The words spoken here, which enabled me and my companions to be freed, created the need to act while respecting the lives of all the hostages, and also of all the guerrillas, who were our kidnappers. The fact that there was no violence was the result of your stringency and commitment. That is a particular, clear, concrete result of your action.
I would also like to pay tribute here to the thousands of human rights activists, the thousands of freedom fighters who have worked all over the world to secure our return, and the return of many, many other people throughout the world. I can see here the yellow t-shirts of the FICIB.
Of course, all I can do is think what an extraordinary coincidence that is. Just three months ago, I was watching you at work from the deepest depths of the Amazonian rainforest, and my greatest aspiration was for others to come and speak here on our behalf, while we remained prisoners of the madness of some, and of the neglect of others.
It is a miracle, I truly believe, to be able to share these moments with you. I come here full of admiration, to a Parliament that I constantly envy. Like all Latin Americans, I dream that your example will be contagious and that our people will unite so that one day we can meet in a Latin American parliament, like yours, and through dialogue and respect find the keys to a great and generous common destiny for our continent.
I know only too well how much you thought of me during those difficult years. I precisely remember your commitment, alongside our families, at a time when the world had lost interest in the fate of the Colombian hostages and when talking about us was frowned upon.
In the jungle, I used to listen to the radio, which broadcast a session taking place here. I had no pictures, but I did have the voices of the journalists describing the session. It was from here, from this chamber, through you, through your refusal to give up and your silent disapproval, that my first help came. Thanks to you I understood, more than five years ago, that we were no longer alone.
If I kept hoping throughout those years, if I could cling on to life, if I could carry my cross day after day, it was because I knew I existed in your hearts. I told myself that they could make me disappear physically, but my name and my face would always live on in your thoughts.
That is why, from the moment I first set foot back in the free world, I wanted to come here, to this place that I feel is also my home. I had to tell you that nothing you said or did was in vain. If I am alive, if I have rediscovered the joy of living, I owe it to you. You must understand that your words delivered me well before physical help actually reached me.
Thank you!"@en1
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