The Crime Book

324

BARBARITY WAS

ALL AROUND US

THE KIDNAPPING OF INGRID BETANCOURT,

2002–08

D

eep in the Colombian

jungle, during a brutal

guerrilla war, a group of

revolutionary armed forces – the

Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionaries

de Colombia (FARC) – hid from the

world, plotting their next attack.

For six years, the jungle was also

a prison camp for former Colombian

presidential candidate Ingrid

Betancourt. She was kept there

alongside her campaign manager

Clara Rojas and a small group of

other hostages. The captives were

kept in cages, slept on tarps in the

mud, and bathed in the rivers,

surrounded by giant snakes,

insects, and deadly predators.

They survived on meagre meals

of rice and watery soup, which left

them malnourished. Despite the

horrifying conditions, however,

Betancourt never lost hope that she

would one day be rescued and

returned to her family.

Distinguished history

Betancourt, who grew up in France

and settled in Colombia in 1989,

was the daughter of diplomat

Gabriel Betancourt – a former

Education Minister and assistant

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Colombia, South America

THEME

Political abductions

BEFORE

October 1970 James Cross,

a British diplomat, and Quebec

politician Pierre Laporte are

kidnapped by militants of the

Front de Libération du Québec.

Laporte is killed, but Cross is

released in December 1970.

August 1973 South Korean

politician Kim Dae-jung, who

later serves as president of

South Korea, is kidnapped

and held hostage for 42 days.

December 1981 Members

of Italian group the “Red

Brigades” (see pp. 322–23)

kidnap US General James

Dozier in Verona.

AFTER

May 2010 Diego Fernández

de Cevallos Ramos, a Mexican

politician, is held for seven

months by leftist rebels.

Surviving captivity

Whether captured by a terrorist

group, lone kidnapper, or enemy

army, experts say that a few

fundamental survival principles

can help keep hostages alive.

The highest priority is to obey

the captor. Complying quickly

with orders can curry favour.

Violating the captor’s rules,

however arbitrary, can lead to

harsh punishment.

Although the body can

usually handle extreme physical

challenges, mental strength is

an equally essential element.

To survive the mental stress of

captivity, hostages may seek out

secret, small victories against

their captors, or send encrypted

messages when allowed to

speak or write to their families.

While confined, hostages

often endure severe emotional

trauma that can have long-

lasting mental effects. Unlike

Betancourt, some hostages

experience Stockholm

syndrome, wherein they develop

an overwhelming dependency

on their captors, and even resist

authorities who would try to

rescue them from captivity.

324-325_Ingrid_Betancourt.indd 324 02/12/2016 15:05

325

Ingrid Betancourt looks thin and

unhealthy during her time in the

jungle. This still, taken from a video

of the camp, was confiscated from a

captured guerrilla in 2007.

See also: The Abduction of Pocahontas 176 ■ The Kidnapping of Patty Hearst 188−89 ■ The Abduction of Aldo Moro 322–23

ASSASSINATIONS AND POLITICAL PLOTS

director of UNESCO. Ingrid was

a pacifist, dedicated to fighting

corruption in Colombia. She

was elected to the Chamber of

Representatives in 1994, and had

created her own political party,

the Green Oxygen Party, in 1997.

In a landslide victory, she became

a senator in 1998, and launched

her campaign for the Colombian

presidency in 2001.

Captured campaigners

Despite advice, Betancourt took

her campaign into rebel territory

in February 2002. There, she and

Rojas were kidnapped by FARC

guerrillas. Forced to abandon their

vehicle, they were chained by the

neck to other prisoners and led

from the main road into the remote

villages, where they travelled by

foot into the rainforest.

During her six years in captivity,

Betancourt tried to escape three

times, swimming down the rivers

and hiking through the rainforest

for days before being recaptured.

While in captivity she was beaten,

underfed, forced on epic marches

at gunpoint, and often threatened

with death.

Betancourt nearly died from

hepatitis and malaria. Her health

was so poor that in July 2003 FARC

told Betancourt’s family that they

would release her, due to her

condition. However, the promised

handover never happened.

False dawn and release

An abortive French rescue bid

failed to bring Betancourt home,

and angered Colombian authorities,

who had not been consulted about

the mission. As her health declined,

only irregular videos and missives

from the rebels told her family that

she was still alive. Her husband,

Juan Carlos le Compte, feared that

an armed rescue attempt by the

Colombian government would see

the hostages killed. The six years

passed slowly.

Meanwhile, in the jungle, Clara

Rojas began a relationship with

one of her captors, and nearly died

giving birth by Caesarean in the

jungle, with scalpels sterilized

over candles. Accused by other

hostages of sleeping with the

enemy, Rojas was eventually freed

in January 2008.

Betancourt’s own freedom

soon followed. On 2 July 2008,

a Colombian military team entered

rebel territory. Disguised as

guerrillas – even wearing iconic

Che Guevara T-shirts – they flew

into the jungle camp in a civilian

helicopter. They claimed to be

taking the hostages for a meeting

with a rebel leader, and managed to

fly Betancourt and three Americans

to safety without bloodshed.

As the Colombian government

promised to secure the release of

the remaining hostages, Betancourt

returned home, and became a

symbol of the country’s brutal

guerrilla war. ■

It was a battle, not only

with the guerrillas, but

with ourselves.

Ingrid Betancourt

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