Education
Our Lady of the Rosary University.
Our Lady of the Rosary University.
She was kidnapped along with Betancourt by the FARC guerrilla group near San Vicente del Caguán on February 23, 2002, while Betancourt was campaigning for the presidency. After the kidnapping, Rojas was named as Betancourt"s vice-presidential candidate. In 2006, it was revealed that Rojas had given birth to a boy named Emmanuel while in captivity.
The father was said to be a FARC guerrilla.
Rojas had last been seen publicly in a video released by the guerrilla group in 2003. However, on January 10, 2008, Rojas and former congresswoman Consuelo González were freed after six years in captivity.
Betancourt was rescued on July 2, 2008. Chavez planned their release in an operation dubbed, using Venezuelan aircraft and with the support of the Red Cross.
The FARC delayed the release of the hostages because the child, Emmanuel, was missing.
According to reports, the FARC had placed the child in custody of a peasant family, and he could not be found in time for the scheduled hostage release. In the meantime, the Colombian government learned that a child fitting Emmanuel"s description was in the custody of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF) on December 31, 2007. On January 2, 2008, the government called the FARC"s bluff and verified that the child was Emmanuel.
Subsequently, on January 4, according to the Colombian government, the child was subjected to a mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid test.
According to the Institute of Legal Medicine of Colombia, the test verified that he is in fact Clara Rojas" son. FARC subsequently confirmed this.
Instead, he was placed into the care of a peasant who did not know to whom the child belonged. Release
After being temporarily suspended, resumed, and on January 10, 2008, a humanitarian commission headed by the International Committee of the Red Cross flew in two Venezuelan helicopters to a location in Colombia that FARC had designated the previous day.
Rojas and González were then released to the care of the commission.
Rojas was a candidate for Congress in Colombia"s March 2014 election. Rojas" ordeal is described in the book "Captive" (2010).