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| Elizabeth Perez-Luna and Ingrid Betancourt |
Few weeks ago I read that one of the upcoming one-night-only film screenings was the documentary "The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt" AND that Ingrid Betancourt was coming to this corner of the world AND that she was having a book signing of her memoir "Even Silence Has An End." Could this get any better? I mean, what are the chances that Ingrid Betancourt would ended up in a suburb in Philadelphia... and walking-distance from my home.
If you don't know about her story I highly recommend that you do your own Google search. Then you will understand why I was in disbelieve for a while that I was going to get the chance to meet her very briefly. But don't worry, I will still give you a quick summary about her.
Betancourt is a former presidential candidate who was kidnapped in by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) while she was campaigning in 2002. She was later rescued in 2008 and immediately left to France where she holds citizenship. During 18 months she secluded herself to write the book mentioned above. A process I suspect became therapeutic for her and helped heal many wounds.
She does not consider herself a hero, but I think she is. Anyone who has survived confinement, or any other deprivations of human rights, without being touched by malice is a hero. As she was speaking during the Q&A session it seemed as if the very essence of her being (her soul) was never corrupted during those years of imprisonment.
The schedule was suppose to be first screening the film and then the Q&A session. Well, it didn't quite work that way. BFMI was having trouble with the projector. About fifteen minutes into the movie the projector froze and we waited for a while for BFMI workers to fix it. Luckily, BFMI figured we might as well start with the Q&A and later watch the documentary.
It worked out perfectly. After all people were really looking forward to listen to Betancourt and ask her questions.
Betancourt answer questions in a very tranquil and soft-spoken manner, even when she disagreed with a comment, and at times trying not to cry. She began introducing us to her life before the kidnapping and where she comes from. At one point I was glad to hear Betancourt said what I have been thinking about all this time. She requested more than $6 million from the government of Colombia for damages for emotional distress and loss of earning during her time as hostage. Some people in Colombia were angry by this decision. Like them, I was also shocked that she was taking legal action against the government that rescued her and not against the FARC. But I kept saying to one of my friends from Colombia, "We don't know why she's doing this, we don't know what's really behind it or whether the government in fact played a role in her kidnapping." Also, I couldn't judge her and I still can. Not even if I watch the documentary and read the book. Rather, I can try to understand. And in fact, that's what she said. People are too quick to judge and we should try to put ourselves in the position of the other person, thinking what we would do in their place.
"I have to confess that I felt abandoned by my fellow countrymen for many years," Betancourt said. "And the guerrillas were nasty because for them... not being, I mean... it was like I was suspiciously French. It was something that was bad. But sometimes in the radio when they would talk about me I could feel that there was this [mockery about being French-Colombian]. And it hurt my feelings a lot because I was there as a Colombian. So surprisingly enough I became very French I think by reaction. I was pointed at that French person that is, you know, disguising as a Colombian and then I said 'OK, I'm French.' Now, I feel very French but I feel very Colombian too. I think most of all I feel unrooted, I think I don't belong to any place in particular. I have found that I belong to where my loved ones are, that's my home, that's my country."
Even though I didn't get to ask all of my questions, we were asked to write a question in advance for the Q&A. I have done this before - ironically the last time I did was during a conference with former Colombia President Alvaro Uribe when he visited the National Press Club in Washington D.C. in 2008 - but my questions never get picked.
This time it did!
Elizabeth Perez-Luna, WHYY's Executive Producer of Audio Content who was moderating the Q&A, picked my question and read it: "If [Betancourt] eventually decides to go back to politics and Colombia, how would she deal with the guerrillas and the drug cartels?"
"There's no quick fix in Colombia," she said. "I would negotiate, I would chase them with military means because I think it's a combination of both. But I think that the core of the problem with the guerrillas, and specially the FARC, is that they have turned to be a drug cartel. So the question is, how badly they want to stay a drug cartel? Because being a drug cartel has advantages, I mean you get rich, you get to buy weapons, you can control a zone and in that zone you are God. I mean, you decide over life and death... So I think we need to offer better things to the guerrilla... I think as a society there are many things that have to change because I think peace will finally be the result of social justice. And to achieve social justice I think we just have to change our hearts because I think we are too cold, we are too [cynical]... And I think Colombia lives in two worlds. There's a Colombia in the cities where you can live like you live in Europe or in the Unites States and you don't see the world... But when you go out there are streams of blood, there's a whole war - bloody war - people suffering and in a way we need to put those two Colombias [looking] to the eyes of each other and that link has to be made. I think for that to happen there's something in your heart that has to change."
Another question was picked: "Who do really credit for your liberation?"
She paused for a moment to think and responded with a list of people that goes in the following order:
1.) The heroes in the helicopter
2.) The commanders who planned the rescue
3.) Former President Uribe who risked his men in the rescue operation
4.) People around the world who made it an urgent political issue
5.) Different French presidents who made it a French issue and related it to diplomatic relations between Colombia and France
6.) President Nicholas Zarkosy who made it a global issue
7.) President Hugo Chavez. (She was booed softly by some of the members of the audience seating in the front rows. Somebody also said "ouch!" to which she responded, "Yes, 'ouch!' But... he was the one who liberated nine of my fellow hostages and he acted in a way that was very interesting because he was interested in the problem and because he was successful in liberating hostages, then it was important not to let him have the trophy of the others. And I think if he hadn't been there, you know being active, perhaps we could be still in the jungle and I think you have to give credit to everyone.")
8.) God and her family
Perez-Luna recommended the audience to listen to This American Life where there is a segment addressing the importance of a radio station in Colombia that transmits message to hostages from their families. It certainly portrays a picture of why is so important for hostages to have a radio nearby and how receiving messages from family members can help a hostage stay alive. Only families can send messages, hostages can't send back radio messages. So the families never know if the person they are talking to is still alive.
Betancourt mentioned that it was faith that kept her going. She grew up in a catholic family. "God is part of a cultural tradition," she said. Certainly, Christianity is well-rooted in Latin America.
"I asked [my captors] for the Bible, I got the Bible thanks to Mono Jojoy," Betancourt said. She added that initially reading the Bible was boring, being in captivity is boring. So she pushed herself to read the Bible until she found a different book. She found an intelligent voice that made her laugh.
Betancourt said she had many hours to think. Her routine was to work out to keep her body in shape and read the Bible to nurture her soul.
"They cannot take the freedom to decide what kind of person you want to be," Betancourt said.
A black-and-white excerpt of Betancourt's Q&A can be found online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2fE1qpXrKc
P.S: We never watched the documentary. BMFI offered the audience to either stay until the projector is fixed or get a refund. I got a refund... and right afterward the film had started! Anyway, I can always order it in Netflix...
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