The proofs of life of eight people held as hostages by the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) astonished the Colombian people, as they disclosed details of "the subhuman conditions" they face in the hands of the leftwing group.
 
Colonel Luis Mendieta, held by the FARC for nine years now, sent an alarming message to his relatives describing his daily life somewhere in the Colombian jungle, DPA reported.

"What stops me and tortures me is not body pains or the chains on my neck, but the mental agony, the evil of the bad guys and the indifference of the good guys, as if we were not worthy or did not exist," said the military officer in his letter.

Mendieta added that guerrilla troops moved him in a hammock, as he was unable to walk. According to Mendieta, French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt, who was a presidential candidate when he was kidnapped in 2002- has faced a similar situation.

"As the days passed by and we were traveling by feet in harsh conditions, some of us got ill. This was the case with Ingrid, Malagón, Guevara and me. They moved us in hammocks."

Former lawmaker Consuelo González de Perdomo, who the FARC delivered to President Hugo Chávez last January 10 together with former vice-presidential candidate Clara Rojas, gave the life proofs to the hostages' relatives.