Saturday, March 31, 2012

What I am reading - Even Silence Has an End

Born in Bogota and raised in France, at the age of thirty-two Ingrid Betancourt gave up a life of comfort and returned to Colombia, a country devastated by violence and corruption, to become a political leader. In 2002, while campaigning as a presidential candidate, she was abducted by the FARC, a brutal terrorist guerrilla organization. She spent sex years imprisoned in the jungle – often chained, sometimes by the neck – dreaming of escape and trying to move beyond the pain of the moment and find a place of serenity.

’For all is horror and injustice, the experience of the political prisoner held in inhuman condition has often been transformed into compelling literature: think of Solzhenitsyn of Dumas and Arthur Koestler. Now Ingrid Betancourt joins that distinguished company’ – New York Times

’An astonishing story. Betancourt was beaten, underfed, forced on epic marches and threatened with a bullet in the head at all times. Far from undermining her faith in human nature, it confirmed her belief in man’s “endless thirst for happiness”’ – Guardian

No comments: