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

Politics and Pawns389nothing much beyond that. In one sense, it was good to see Romero,Jhon Jairo, Buitrago, and Javier after such a long time, but mostly it wassad to know they were still being held. When we came to another oldcampsite, the FARC still kept us in our groups, separating us by abouta kilometer or so.One night, two weeks after Lucho had rejoined us, he and Tom werelistening to the message programs in the coleta next to Marc and me. Iheard him say something that sounded like “Hwmphr.” That was followeda moment later by his saying as calmly as if he were telling usthe time, “The news announced that I am to be released.”It took a second for his words to register. Everyone—Lucho included—was in complete shock. By the next morning, he was his old self. Hewent around to each of us encouraging us to write letters, as many lettersas we wanted, and he would be certain that they’d get out. We allgot to work on writing, and in addition to the letters, Marc asked himto take along a couple of extras for his family. He had carved a woodenplaque with the word family on it and had also made some patches withthe names of his wife, his daughter, and his two sons on them. Tomand I both had letters to go home, and I also wrote two more letters—one to Patricia and one to her father.Ever since I’d heard Patricia’s first message, it seemed pretty clear tome that she was a woman doing the hard right thing under the toughestof circumstances. From that point on, her messages had given mesupport that I didn’t even know I needed. Before the crash, I’d runfrom reality. She hadn’t. Even after all the time with no word from me,she was mothering los tigres and standing by me in a way that I wishedI could have stood by her.This situation seemed to test my resolve about whether I really hadbeen changed by captivity. What kind of person was I going to be whenI was out of here? There wasn’t anything I could do about the past andthe huge hole my absence had put in my loved ones’ lives, but I couldlet Patricia know what I was planning on doing about the future. I