Captured video raises hopes for hostages

? Colombian officials released newly seized videos of rebel-held hostages Friday – among them three U.S. defense contractors and a former presidential candidate – the first images in years providing evidence the captives may be alive.

The tapes were seized during the arrest Thursday evening in Bogota of three suspected urban members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, said Luis Carlos Restrepo, the government’s peace commissioner.

Also recovered were a series of letters apparently written by the hostages, including what appeared to be the will of U.S. contractor Thomas Howes.

The videos were apparently recorded as recently as late October, Restrepo said.