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

Fat Camp 403It was easier to really feel good about someone dying, someone weconsidered evil, when we didn’t know him personally. In the case of thehideous guard Rogelio, we were glad he would no longer be around toplague us or any other hostages. We took a great deal more pleasure inthe deaths of those three FARC leaders, because it seemed to us thatthe FARC, as a viable organization, was dying. We could imagine someimpoverished family in the boondocks of Colombia viewing Marulandaas a hero. To us, and to the rest of the world, the guy was a murderer.Under his leadership, the FARC had kidnapped thousands, killed thousands,and ruined the lives of thousands more of their own people. AsKeith often pointed out, “The guy gave up his right to be thought of asa human being a long time ago. He’s nothing but an oxygen thief atthis point.”Aside from debating the implications that these developments hadfor us, our time at the Fat Camp was one of the few periods when wedidn’t fully engage in a lot of other activities besides eating, reading,and listening to the radio. We needed to recoup our energy. We exercised,but not with the intensity we had at the Exercise Camp. Weplayed chess, but not with the passion we had at the Chess Camp. Itseemed like we were taking our cue from the FARC, and they were in alow-activity mode. We were balancing out the flurry of activity that hadtaken place politically in Colombia.We were encouraged to learn that Governor Bill Richardson of NewMexico had traveled to Colombia to discuss our situation. We didn’tknow if it was because he was Hispanic himself and felt comfortablewith the language or if one of our family members had been able toget his attention somehow, but we were grateful nonetheless. Beingable to add his name to the growing list of Americans involved in someway helped to offset the disappointment we felt when the Blackhawksstopped coming around.The FARC also seemed to pay closer attention to Ingrid. Even Enrique,who had little regard for her previously, was acting much friend-