By Jim Mimiaga

Eight oil-pipeline workers, including a Four Corners man, held hostage for 99 days by a terrorist group operating deep inside the Amazon jungle were released Sunday afternoon, an Ecuadorian newspaper reported Monday.

Ecuador’s minister of defense, Jose Gallardo, confirmed to the newspaper El Comercio that Leonard Carter, 23, of Hatch, Utah, was safely turned over to the Ecuadorian military along with seven Canadian co-workers in the town of Santa Cecilia, a province of Sucumbios located along Ecuador’s unstable northern border with Colombia. The Canadians, all men from Alberta, ranged in age from 22 to 47.

All eight technical workers are reportedly in good health, and will be turned over to U.S. and Canadian diplomats following a military debriefing before heading home.

A member of Carter’s extended family who works in Cortez declined to comment Monday, saying only that they had already heard the news and were relieved.

According to El Universo, another newspaper in Quito, the principal investigators from Canadian, U.S., Ecuadorian and Colombian security agencies reported that the hostages spent the entire duration of their captivity in a sector of the jungle along the border between Ecuador and Peru.

Gallardo confirmed Dec. 15 that a ransom of $3 million in U.S. dollars was paid for the release of the hostages. Ecuadorian newspapers reported that the amount was paid by City Investing, a Canadian company that had contracted with the workers’ employer, United Pipeline Systems of Edmonton, Canada.

According to a Reuters report, a City official denied knowledge of a ransom being paid.

Both the Canadian and U.S. State departments refused comment on the situation, other than saying that their policy was to never negotiate with terrorists who take hostages.

On Sept. 11, while installing an oil pipeline in a heavy jungle region a few miles from the Colombian border, the eight workers were overtaken by an armed band of camouflage-clad guerrillas. An Ecuadorian guard hired for security fired at the terrorists and was then shot and killed. Shortly after, four European tourists were also abducted at gunpoint, but they were released unharmed within a few weeks.

One of the released tourists described the gunmen as a well-equipped and organized group who are familiar with the dense jungle terrain. He said that they spoke with Colombian accents, communicated via two-way radios, and steered clear of roads. Hostages were kept moving by their captors and treated well, he said, despite having to survive on roots, insects, and sugar-salt tablets for sustenance.

So far no group has claimed responsibility for the act, although the Ecuadorian press has reported that a Colombian news magazine had intercepted a message from El Ejercito de Liberacion (ELN), Colombia’s second-largest rebel group, known for taking hostages and collecting ransoms to fund their clandestine operations.

The leftist counterinsurgency group is estimated to be 5,000 strong, and has already hijacked a domestic airplane in Colombia. The plane was forced down April 12 and the passengers ushered into the jungle. According to the Miami Herald a U.S. citizen was released, but the ELN still holds 15 passengers hostage. In addition to that, the group still holds 40 hostages taken during a Catholic mass in the city of Cali on May 30.