Even Silence Has an End

Watching Oprah Show yesterday, i dont know what season it is but its really a jaw dropping stories about a lady been abducted for years in amazon jungle! and i can't even imagine this kind of tragedy still happened at the other side of the world. i thought the other country is at peace as we had here.... How grateful i am to be Malaysian.

source : google

Betancourt, a Colombian presidential candidate at the time, was abducted by FARC guerrillas and spent six and a half years in captivity deep inside amazon jungle, not knowing if it would become her grave. In her book, Even Silence Has an End, Ingrid Betancourt measures the distance between fear and freedom.

source :daylife

Ingrid's story begins in France, where she attended school, married and started a family. In 1989 she returned to her native Colombia and was elected as a senator. With an anti-corruption stance, she launched her bid for president of the war-torn country in 2002.

For nearly 50 years, Colombia has been waging a war against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a home-grown rebel group known as the FARC. This organization has terrorized citizens for decades with bombings, murders and thousands of kidnappings. During her presidential campaign, Ingrid met with FARC leaders and made a demand. "No more kidnappings," she said. "That the FARC promises to stop kidnapping and to free the kidnapped people."

On February 23, 2002, just days after she made that statement, Ingrid headed to the Colombian city of San Vicente for a campaign stop. The town was located in a region controlled by the FARC, and the Colombian military says they cautioned Ingrid against traveling to this dangerous area, even refusing to provide her with armed escorts. Despite the warnings, Ingrid decided to make the trip with her campaign manager, Clara Rojas, another staffer and two journalists

Thirty miles into the drive toward San Vincente, Ingrid's car approached a checkpoint manned by FARC guerrillas. "I told the driver: 'Let's go back. We have to get out of here,'" Ingrid says. "There was a guerrilla that came running, and he put his head inside the car and he asked, 'Are you Ingrid Betancourt?' And I said, 'Yes.'"

Ingrid and her campaign manager, Clara, were forced into a truck at gunpoint. "We had been abducted," Ingrid says. "The guerrilla didn't use the word 'kidnapped.' But he said, 'I have received orders from my commanders to treat you well.' That was, I would say, the worst day of my life."

For the next six and a half years, Ingrid was held hostage in the Colombian jungle, unable to see or speak to her husband and two children. She and her fellow hostages were often kept in what they called "the cage." Although the living space would change depending on where they camped in the jungle, Ingrid says lack of personal space was a big issue................ more from Oprah.com

source :buzz catalog.com after 5 years been abducted

Excerpted some from her books

"...............When I finally managed to sit up, I had the chain around my neck and the man was pulling on it, jerkily, to oblige me to follow him. He was foaming at the mouth as he shouted at me. The way back to the camp seemed very long under the weight of my humiliation and their sarcasm. One in front of me, two others behind, they were loudly exulting in their victory. I did not feel like crying. It wasn't pride. It was just scorn. The cruelty of these men and the pleasure they derived from it had not reached my soul."

source : eworldpost Ingrid with her 2 children after she's been rescued