French news network France 24 aired the documentary “Caught in the Crossfire” shot by journalist Romeo Langlois who was captured by the FARC in April.
The 48-minute film begins with combat, minutes before Langlois is captured. The footage then moves to where captain Gomez, in charge of the military unit with which Langlois was embedded, warns there might be fighting.
“The surest thing is that there is the presence of terrorists in the place where we are going to attack the target, we could engage in combat,” says Gomez.
The footage later shows the destruction of drug laboratories and the start of combat at the second laboratory.
In the film, Langlois explains why he surrendered to the guerrillas.
“I saw three or four guerillas with rifles, they came to shoot the soldiers that were 10 or 15 meters away and they passed the side where I was hidden, I was lucky to see them pass me,” Langlois says. “If they had seen me they could have shot me, so I decided to come out with my hands up, not screaming or trying to scare them. Only speaking loud and clear to tell them ‘I am a civilian, I am a journalist, I am injured and unarmed, don’t shoot me!’”
Langlois was captured April 28 while filming a documentary about counter-narcotics operations in southern Colombia when the military unit he was embedded with came under guerrilla fire, wounding him in the arm. He was released May 30.