Freed hostages: Betancourt very sick and Americans ailing

The three also were badly shaken by the 60-year prison sentence a U.S. judge slapped on a Colombian rebel last month after a jury convicted him in connection with their Feb. 13, 2003 capture, said former Sen. Luis Eladio Perez.Perez said he spent the last six months with the Americans, all captives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, seeing them last on Feb. 4.”The oldest, the pilot Thomas Howes (aged 54), had a blow to his head that gives him very strong recurring headaches,” said Perez. “He’s got a problem with hypertension with very little medical treatment, almost none, and it’s very difficult to get drugs for hypertension.”Perez said Marc Gonsalves, 35, also has problems “resulting from the accident in his spine and his knees. He’s also suffered all kind of illnesses that we also got like leishmaniasis and malaria.”He said Gonsalves had hepatitis recently.