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

386 OUT OF CAPTIVITYBy offering to have it piled on, I was not just getting the milk andsugar I wanted, but something potentially more valuable—the goodwillof the grunt-level guerrillas. Over the years, we’d noticed that thegreatest source of dissension among the rank-and-file guerrillas wasthe perception that some of them had to carry more than others. Theywere absolutely right. We’d seen guys like Eliécir packed to the gills,while others skated by with light loads. The longer our marches went,the more disgruntled these guys got, leading them to take out theirfrustrations on us. I figured that if they saw us carrying heavy, they’dbe more likely to do us a favor. Usually, if you were transporting foodon a march, your load got lighter each day as the supplies were eaten.On this march, I continually asked to be resupplied so that I was alwayscarrying heavy.As we started out, Tom wasn’t able to carry any extras. Enrique hadhim in double chains on the march and that was tough enough—especiallybecause Tom had a bad knee. Marc did what he could, but hisknee was also in bad, bad shape and he’d been sick. I was fortunate tobe in about as good a physical condition as I could be, given the circumstances.I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of helping out the FARC, but ifit meant keeping our asses from starving, then that’s what I had to do.With us on the cusp of five years as hostages, we’d become infinitelywiser in the ways of captivity. We were tougher physically as well asmentally, and we knew what the boundaries were.With the extra weight, the march began rough, but we got a piece ofnews early on that helped to push us along. On December 28, we gotword that the Red Cross and other agencies were pressuring the FARCto release Clara Rojas and her son. What no one on the outside knewwas that the FARC had somehow gotten Emanuel to an orphanage,and it wasn’t until Jhon Pinchao’s escape that the Colombian authoritieswere able to track down a kid of the right age with a telltale brokenarm. Emanuel became a cause célèbre in Colombia and the FARC were