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

410 OUT OF CAPTIVITYThe weeks following our brief separation from the other threepassed in much the same way as they had at Fat Camp. We listened tothe radios but the news about our release had begun to stagnate. Wewere still eating well, and one evening Marc had been served too muchrice. He wandered over to the trash hole. He came back and I could tellsomething was up. Keith must have also because he asked, “What isgoing on, bro?”Marc sat down near us and checked to see how close the guardswere. I moved my eyes but kept my head facing Marc. “There was acardboard box. It had letters cut out of it. It spelled ‘Acuerdo HumanitarioYa.’ They weren’t just cut out, but they were like traced, stenciled.They had red spray paint on the edges.”“Are they making signs or T-shirts or something?” Keith asked.“Humanitarian Agreement Now.” I tossed the words around in myhead. That was something we’d all been hoping for, but it seemed oddthat the FARC would stencil those words on anything unless it was intendedfor public display. “Keith’s right. It has to be signs or T-shirts.”“You think they would make us wear those in another proof of life?”Marc asked.“If they’re as desperate as they seem, why not?” I figured that asa piece of propaganda, a bit of video with all the hostages wearing T-shirts or carrying signs demanding an exchange of prisoners was prettygood.“Well, we said before, with all the food and better treatment, theywanted us to be camera-ready,” Keith said.“We did get asked our clothes sizes again. They must be making useach a shirt.” Marc’s voice carried a note of finality.We all agreed we should take advantage of this next proof of life. Atthis point, it was best not to do anything to diminish our chances. Thevideos weren’t of interest to us; instead we focused on writing lettersto our families. We hoped that there would be some way to get themsent out. For the next two days, we did little besides eat and write. The