(31 May 2012) HEADLINE: French reporter released by Colombian rebels
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CAPTION: Romeo Langlois joked with his captors as he was handed over to Red Cross officials in a remote border village. And the rebels threw a party for the villagers to celebrate the release. (30 May, 2012)
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VOICE-OVER: This video contains only natural sound. There is no voice-over narration.
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SHOTLIST
1. Jairo Martinez, commander of FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) shaking hands with French journalist Romeo Langlois as crowd claps (shot continues to Shot 2)
2. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Jairo Martinez, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commander:
"There is no better reason than to share these 48 years of efforts, so that one day Colombia achieves what everyone wants, peace." (applause)
3. Cutaway, woman officer in Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
4. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Romeo Langlois, French journalist:
"I repeat that I accept the apologies and I am coming out of this without spite. But I don't agree with this decision of keeping me for 33 days because of that. (laughter from crowd) I think that once again politics dominated the humanitarian side."
5. Langlois with officials from ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross)
6. Langlois with FARC leader
7. Langlois getting into ICRC vehicle
8. Various, Langlois being driven away.
9. Truck with local residents stopped at FARC checkpoint
10. Local residents being searched for weapons by FARC rebels
11. Various of FARC rebels and local residents walking through village streets
12. Villagers carrying chairs for party
13. FARC fighters arriving for party
14. FARC fighters carrying party supplies
15. Wide of local residents cooking meat
SCRIPT
A French journalist freed by leftist rebels on Wednesday said he had no complaints about his captivity other than its 33-day duration and lamenting that Colombia's war is 'an invisible conflict where the poor kill the poor'.
Romeo Langlois joked with his captors as they prepared for a party and handed him over to a delegation of diplomats and officials from the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross)
He said he wasn't bitter but he criticised the rebel group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) for using his capture for propaganda purposes.
Langlois was freed on the FARC's 48th anniversary on a specially-built stage in a remote southern hamlet, hanging banners expressing a desire for peace and drawing a crowd with a barbecue.
He was joined on stage by FARC commander Jairo Martinez, who told the crowd he was hopeful that one day Colombians would be able to live in peace, and gave Langlois a letter for France's new Socialist president, Francois Hollande.
Langlois said he did not hold any grudges but did not agree with the decision to hold him in captivity for over a month.
The rebels and the townspeople they convened in this longtime guerrilla stronghold for the handover to a humanitarian commission applauded vigorously when Langlois said he appreciated how the guerrillas live in simple surrounding and risk their lives.
Langlois looked relaxed and smiled, appearing unbothered by the wound to his left arm from an attack by FARC rebels on the soldiers he was accompanying on a mission to destroy cocaine laboratories last month.
Langlois has been reporting on Colombia's rebel movement for more than a decade, for France 24 television and the newspaper Le Figaro.
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