Out of Captivity : Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle

NINERuin and RecoverySeptember 2004–May 2005TOMIf President Uribe’s objective with his Plan Patriota was to f lush outthe FARC and get them on the run in order to wipe them out, then hisefforts nearly did the same to us. On September 28, 2004, after elevenmonths with the politicals, we f led Camp Caribe.None of us was comfortable knowing that our fate was so closelylinked with the FARC’s. The inside perspective of the politicals helpedus see that a new phase in the FARC-Colombian conflict was beginning.Uribe’s government had lost all patience with the guerrillas, demandingaction on a new scale. Uribe no longer believed in the FARC’s abilityto negotiate fairly and honorably, and now he would make the FARCpay a price for their misguided overestimation of themselves and theirpower.How the FARC treated us was often a reflection of how they werebeing treated themselves, and our hasty departure from Camp Caribe