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CNN Live Sunday
American Woman Held by Kenyan Authorities Released
Aired December 01, 2002 - 18:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: An American woman and her Spanish husband were held by police in Kenya for two days after the hotel blast. They were released yesterday. CNN senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar talked to the couple.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For three days they were suspects, arrested, interrogated, searched, as unlikely as it seems suspected of being part of the terrorist network that blew up the Paradise Hotel and tried to down the Israeli airliner.
ALICIA KALHAMMER, RELEASED AMERICAN: It was surreal. It was totally surreal. I thought we were in a bad movie.
MACVICAR: Alicia Kalhammer, the daughter of former American diplomats who once lived in Kenya and her husband, Pepe Tena, were staying in this hotel the morning of the attacks. Many of the other guests were Israelis and everyone was very frightened.
JOSE TENA, HUSBAND: They were nervous. They were crying. They were calling the embassy to see what they could do on their side to get out.
MACVICAR (on camera): Yes, so the most sensible thing to do is just...
KALHAMMER: Get out of dodge.
MACVICAR (voice over): They didn't know the Kenyan police had issued an order after the attacks to detain anyone checking unexpectedly out of a hotel. When they went to leave, the police arrived.
KALHAMMER: Then they said OK we're getting in the car and we were taken to Mombasa.
MACVICAR: The hours crawled by. They managed to persuade a Kenyan guard to lend them his mobile phone and called a friend in Nairobi who called the U.S. Embassy and they waited for the Americans. It felt like a very long time.
KALHAMMER: I saw those two men first and I said they're here. They're here. These are the Americans. They're here and, of course, I just burst into tears like oh the cavalry is here. MACVICAR: The ordeal wasn't over. The U.S. Embassy had found them but the Kenyans weren't ready to let them go.
KALHAMMER: For me, that was the most horrifying because all of a sudden things changed and I was on a high and then bam right back down again so.
MACVICAR: It was another 18 hours before finally they were freed but remarkably they are not angry.
TENA: We were at the wrong place at the wrong time but they could have gotten the right guys. They could have gotten the wrong guys like they did. Maybe they get the right ones next time.
MACVICAR: So, is your first instinct to get on a plane and go home?
TENA: No, absolutely not.
KALHAMMER: These people aren't going to scare us out of our vacation our, you know, my former home. There is no way. I mean I feel very comfortable here. After all that's happened, I still feel very comfortable here.
MACVICAR: Comfortable enough to continue their trip through Kenya and try to come to terms with being a footnote in the war on terror.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Mombasa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 1, 2002 - 18:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: An American woman and her Spanish husband were held by police in Kenya for two days after the hotel blast. They were released yesterday. CNN senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar talked to the couple.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For three days they were suspects, arrested, interrogated, searched, as unlikely as it seems suspected of being part of the terrorist network that blew up the Paradise Hotel and tried to down the Israeli airliner.
ALICIA KALHAMMER, RELEASED AMERICAN: It was surreal. It was totally surreal. I thought we were in a bad movie.
MACVICAR: Alicia Kalhammer, the daughter of former American diplomats who once lived in Kenya and her husband, Pepe Tena, were staying in this hotel the morning of the attacks. Many of the other guests were Israelis and everyone was very frightened.
JOSE TENA, HUSBAND: They were nervous. They were crying. They were calling the embassy to see what they could do on their side to get out.
MACVICAR (on camera): Yes, so the most sensible thing to do is just...
KALHAMMER: Get out of dodge.
MACVICAR (voice over): They didn't know the Kenyan police had issued an order after the attacks to detain anyone checking unexpectedly out of a hotel. When they went to leave, the police arrived.
KALHAMMER: Then they said OK we're getting in the car and we were taken to Mombasa.
MACVICAR: The hours crawled by. They managed to persuade a Kenyan guard to lend them his mobile phone and called a friend in Nairobi who called the U.S. Embassy and they waited for the Americans. It felt like a very long time.
KALHAMMER: I saw those two men first and I said they're here. They're here. These are the Americans. They're here and, of course, I just burst into tears like oh the cavalry is here. MACVICAR: The ordeal wasn't over. The U.S. Embassy had found them but the Kenyans weren't ready to let them go.
KALHAMMER: For me, that was the most horrifying because all of a sudden things changed and I was on a high and then bam right back down again so.
MACVICAR: It was another 18 hours before finally they were freed but remarkably they are not angry.
TENA: We were at the wrong place at the wrong time but they could have gotten the right guys. They could have gotten the wrong guys like they did. Maybe they get the right ones next time.
MACVICAR: So, is your first instinct to get on a plane and go home?
TENA: No, absolutely not.
KALHAMMER: These people aren't going to scare us out of our vacation our, you know, my former home. There is no way. I mean I feel very comfortable here. After all that's happened, I still feel very comfortable here.
MACVICAR: Comfortable enough to continue their trip through Kenya and try to come to terms with being a footnote in the war on terror.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Mombasa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
