Dave Mankins, Mark Rich and Rick Tenenoff have the unenviable distinction of being the longest currently held Americans. They have been held by Colombian guerrillas more than five years.
Their names have become household words in many homes around the world. Your prayers are valuable in sustaining not only the men, but their families and those of our contingency team as well, who have worked tirelessly to bring this ordeal to an end. Many thanks and keep on praying.
Hostage Update No. 65, Nov. 11, 1998 On November 6, 1998 New Tribes Mission's Crisis Management Team conducted an intense effort to drop leaflets over numerous locations within Colombia.
This project was the result of recently-gained information from different sources indicating that the three NTM missionaries being held hostage, Mark Rich, David Mankins and Rick Tenenoff, are still alive.
After receiving and evaluating this information, the NTM CMT decided that there was sufficient strength in the data to support a project to drop leaflets at numerous locations along the Panama/Colombia border and the Cordoba region.
An effort was mounted and thousands of leaflets were designed and printed within only a few days. Flights by the aircraft distributed approximately 22,000 leaflets in some 18 locations (all villages and similar venues). Security concerns prevent us from discussing specific targets, nor can the aircraft or personnel involved be identified. However, this was a completely private, non-governmental effort. Generally, the leaflets were dropped in border areas of the Choco and Cordoba provinces of northwest Colombia.
The objective of this project was twofold:
First, to inform the captors that these hostages have not been forgotten and that efforts to secure their freedom will continue until they are reunited with their families and friends.
Second, we hope one of these leaflets will find its way into the hands of the hostages themselves. We want them to know that after almost six years of captivity (since January 31, 1993), they have not been forgotten, and that NTM is continuing to seek their release.
What is happening with the 20/20 program? Well, it appears that the technical people they need to do the final editing are on strike, so that has delayed the program by at least a month.
Nothing has been said by ABC on a projected air date, but it probably won't be before late November or early December. A cameraman contracted by ABC was in the plane filming the leaflet drops, so the delay allowed that information to be included in the program.
Let's pray together that this leaflet drop and the upcoming 20/20 program will lead to a resolution of this long and agonizing affair.
NEW TRIBES MISSION
1000 East First Street - Sanford, FL 32771-1487=20
Phone 407-323-3430
http://www.ntm.org/headline.html
e-mail: ntm@ntm.org