What is Denzel Washington's connection with Colombia's FARC rebels? Group negotiated exchange of 62 hostages
Over the years, Denzel Washington's range as an actor has been unmatched. He kickstarted with comedy and soon turned to play intense real-life characters such as anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in 'Cry Freedom' (1987) and the titular civil rights activist in 'Malcolm X' (1992) on the big screen. This is perhaps why, almost two decades ago, FARC — Colombia's largest rebel group — sought support from him to negotiate an exchange of imprisoned groups for 62 hostages.
Washington was among a list of three Hollywood dignitaries who were sent a letter from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC, in 2006. The other two were directors Oliver Stone and Michael Moore. The three were requested help for pressuring the US government to release 600 imprisoned guerrillas in exchange for the hostages that included three US defense contractors who were captured in 2003.
The letter also found its way to academics aligned to the left, such as Noam Chomsky, James Petras and Angela Davis, and activist Jesse Jackson. Raul Reyes, the chief spokesman for FARC, wrote in the letter: "To the people of the United States, we ask for your always generous solidarity to pressure President Bush and his government to support a prisoner exchange in Colombia."
Washington's inclusion in the list of Hollywood elites in the letter seemed puzzling to many at the time. While both the directors' had made political films in the past, Washington had only starred as real-life activists in the movies. Stone's film 'Salvador' and Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' were both politically charged, and academic Chomsky too had been recently promoted by the Venezuelan president at the time, Hugo Chavez, in a recent UN meeting. At that point, Washington's most recent film was Spike Lee's 'The Inside Man' where he played a detective trying to negotiate with a bank robber.
Among FARC's hostages, the three US defense contractors were Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves. In 2003, their small aircraft had gone down during intelligence gathering. Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. was also among the hostages. "Howes, Stansell and Gonsalves are alive in our custody, treated with respect and dignity in the jungle," Reyes said, promising evidence too of those three being alive.
In exchange, the group demanded the release of Ricardo Palmera among others. Palmera, who also goes by the moniker Simon Trinidad, was captured in 2004. He currently stands trial in Washington, DC, for the kidnapping of the three Americans. As of 2019, Jesús Santrich, a longtime FARC member was the second prisoner to be released from a Bogotá prison on the orders of the Supreme Court.
Washington's upcoming HBO Max film, 'The Little Things', is about to drop in January. In the film, Washington plays Deputy Sheriff Joe 'Deke' Deacon who "joins forces with Sgt. Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) to search for a serial killer (Jared Leto) who's terrorizing Los Angeles. As they track the culprit, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke's past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case." The film premieres on Friday, January 29, available for streaming on HBO Max.