Such Ungrateful Victims!

Not victims? FARC hostages in a jungle camp.

Let's get a few things straight:

Ingrid Betancourt and Clara Rojas  are responsible for getting themselves kidnapped for seven years by the FARC guerrillas.

Ingrid Betancourt while in FARC captivity,
enjoying the luxuries of the jungle.

And, Rojas and Betancourt should be grateful to the guerrillas for the wonderful treatment they received while being held for years in cages in the jungle.

And General Luis Mendieta, whom the FARC held in jungle captivity for twelve years far from his friends and family, should be ashamed for "crying like a woman" rather than 'behaving like a man' in captivity.

That, at least, appears to be the view of the FARC guerrillas towards their victims.

Betancourt and Rojas were the Green Party's presidential and vice presidential candidates when, in 2002, they ventured into guerrilla-dominated territory in southern Colombia. A foolish act, perhaps, but they had every right to be there, and the guerrillas had no right to kidnap them.

Clara Rojas with Emmanuel, who was born
while she was in captivity.

The sufferings of Betancourt and Rojas - who attempted to escape and were recaptured and punished, struggled with depression and, in Rojas's case, gave birth to a baby fathered by a guerrilla (which was taken away from her and ended up in a Bogotá orphanage) - became a national drama. The guerrillas released Rojas in 2007 and Betancourt was rescued, along with other hostages, by the military in 2008.

But the FARC were not done with Rojas and Betancourt. Last week, the guerrillas published a text on one of their websites

From the very beginning of the women's captivity, the FARC text makes clear, the women had no reason to complain. After all, "they were never tied up," which gave them the opportunity to make two escape attempts. How unreasonable of them, when they were treated so nicely. But, after their recapture, the women were "placed in prison."

In any case, the guerrillas provided their captives with dental service, hair care, an occasional movie and a library containing literature and guerrilla documents. Why, this was a veritable AirBNB in the jungle. The kidnappees had nothing to complain about!

The FARC kept many of their kidnappees
chained by the neck.

The guerrilla text makes clear that the heroes of the story were the guerrillas, who selflessly kept their prisoners alive and marching "in the rain, in the mud, under implacable sun and in the dark of night," not to mention the military's bombs and machine guns. And if the kidnappees complained, well, that was because they were elitists, accostumed to "certain comforts much greater than the majority of the people."

Despite all of these challenges, the heroic guerrillas still managed to feed their prisoners with yucca, carbohydrates, milk, oil and other stuff. Yet, despite all of these luxuries, the pampered Betancourt very unreasonably organized a hunger strike amongst the other prisoners.

Meanwhile, of course, the kidnappees were exposed to tropical diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and leishmaniasis, as well as diseases like diabetes, heart conditions and gastrointestinal ailments. But suffering from diseases while imprisoned in the jungle and exposed to military attacks was no reason to complain, either, because the guerrillas tried hard to supply their victims with "the necessary medicines."

During Rojas' pregnancy and childbirth, the guerrillas didn't know how to perform a Caesarean section, nor did they have adequate instruments. And, when Rojas - so unreasonably - became depressed and suicidal, it was only thanks to the guerrillas that mother and baby were saved. When Rojas had recovered somewhat, mother and baby were sent back to 'the prison.'

FARC kidnappees penned behind barbed wire in the jungle.

Soon after that, military attacks forced the guerrillas and their prisoners to march thru the jungle, carrying their supplies on their backs. The prisoners - unreasonable as always - went on strike again and refused to march. Betancourt pointed out that she had been living quite comfortably until the guerrillas kidnapped her and held her against her will. General Mendieta "cried like a woman."

Still, the forced marches continued, chopping their way thru the jungle and once even wading all day long thru chest-deep water, where leeches attacked them. Nevertheless, the ungrateful prisoners did not appreciate the courage of the guerrillas who were saving them.

Despite all of this guerrilla kindness, concludes Diana, the guerrilla who wrote the text, Rojas now argues that she was a victim of the FARC - whereas all they wanted to do was to help her.

Rojas "presents herself as our victim. With my hand on my heart, I can tell her that she doesn't have that right."

And the guerrillas' care for their hostages was not exactly altruistic or humanistic. For the guerrillas, the hostages are booty, bargaining chips, tools for extortion, sources or ransom and human shields. They protected them not out of concern for the kidnappees' lives, but to exploit them. The best proof of that is the guerrillas' policy of killing hostages when they feared they'd be rescued - a policy which they murderously put into practice several times.

A few days after 'Is Clara Rojas a Victim of the FARC?' appeared, the FARC leaders seemed to disclaim it - but left it on their FARC-Peace website - in both Spanish and English.

The FARC and the Colombian government are now holding peace negotiations in Havana, Cuba and compensation for victims of the 50-year conflict is one of the outstanding issues.

The FARC's twisted, cynical attitude toward their kidnap victims (whom they label 'prisoners of war') is a clue to their likely attitude towards all their millions of victims when the time comes to make compensation. The victims - the guerrillas will most likely claim - are responsible for their own sufferings, and any complaints they make are only proof of their own weaknesses. The guerrillas, for their own part, were their victims' heroic protectors, according to the guerrilla worldview. This week, victims of the armed conflict are in Havana, Cuba talking with the FARC. I'd like to hear the guerrillas' explanations of how displaced people are at fault for building their houses in the guerrillas' path, and child soldiers are responsible for being recruited for being too young and healthy.

With that concept of good and evil, the millions of people who have been raped, kidnapped, driven off of their land, massacred and forcibly recruited by the FARC stand little chance of compensation, or even an apology, from the guerrillas.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá a la Francesa

Bogotá's City Hall, designed by a French architect in French Rennaisance style. 

Simon Bolivar.

There's an exhibition going on now in north Bogotá of Memorabilia from French general and dictator Napoleon Bonaparte. In the exhibition you'll actually be able to see the saber used in Napoleon's coronation as emperor, the royal jewels, the emperor's hat and, even, the emperor's brother's bed!

In other word's, it's a display of hero worship rivaling that of Colombia's own 'El Libertador' Simon Bolivar.

Napoleon Bonaparte.

The two men crossed paths at least once: Bolívar was in Paris to witness Napoleon's coronation as emperor - which horrified Bolívar as a betrayal of the French Revolution. (Yet, ironically, near his death Bolívar wanted to be appointed Colombia's president for life.)

Napoleon influenced Colombian history - from a distance. It was thanks to his invasion of Spain - tho not his intention - that Colombia and the rest of South America achieved independence as early as they did. With Spain weakened by French occupation, criollo loyalty to the crown withered and some Latin American leaders saw their chance to throw off Spanish rule.

Last weeks in Bogotá! A Napoleon talks on the phone in La Candelaria. 

Le Corbusier the Great.

And the idealism of the French Revolution and the North American colonies' rebellion against Britain inspired the Spanish colonies' rebellion. Colombia, like most of Latin America, was also influenced by the Napoleonic Code - altho nowadays Colombia and other Latin nations are shifting to a more English/American-style legal code.

French bread in Cafe de la
Peña in La Candelaria. 

While Colombia has received fewer European immigrants than have other Latin American nations, several French citizens have made their marks here.

French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt
while a captive of the FARC guerrillas. 

Perhaps the most colorful Frenchman to visit Colombia was the convicted murderer and escapee from the Devil's Island penal colony Henri Charrière, known as Papillon, who wrote that he happily cohabited with Wayuu women on the Guajira peninsula. Another was the famed Swiss-French urban planner Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, who was hired in mid-century to build an master plan for Bogotá. But Le Corbusier's 1950 plan, which left the city's rivers exposed, was never implemented. Another French architect, Gaston Lelarge, designed Bogotá's City Hall, known as the Palacio de Liévano, built in 1907. But undoubtedly the French citizen who left the deepest mark on Colombia in recent years was Green Party presidential candidate and Ingrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped in 2002 by FARC guerrillas and freed by the military with others in 2008.

Pascal Tournamille, from Toulouse,
proprietor of the La Tartine
restaurant in La Candelaria. 

Today, there seems to me to be a disproportionate number of French travelers and students living in Bogotá, at least in La Candelaria, and at least compared with Brits, Germans and other nationalities. Thanks to them, the neighborhood has a number of French bakeries and restaurants, including La Cicuta restaurant on 9th St. and Carrera 2, el Cafe de la Pena on Carrera 3 just south of 10th St. and the La Tartine restaurant on Calle 12 just above Carrera 4.

A French immigrant's tomb in
Bogotá's Central Cemetery.

But historically Colombia apparently received fewer immigrants from France than Britain and Germany - at least judging by the fact that those other two nations have their own ethnic cemeteries here, but the French do not. (Or, perhaps that's only due to most French being Catholic, and so willing to be buried in the Central Cemetery. Still, I haven't seen many French last names there.)

Colombian leaders must regret that France did not have the U.S.'s success in digging a canal across Panama, which the French attempted to do in the 1880s, when the isthmus still belonged to Colombia. If the French had succeeded, then the U.S. likely would not have torn Panama off of the rest of Colombia, as U.S. Pres. Teddy Roosevelt later did.

'Treasures of Napoleon' runs until early May in the Claustro La Enseñanza, Calle 72 No. 7-51. Entry ranges from 15,000 pesos for students to 25,000 pesos for regular people on weekends and holidays. Open Sundays 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Mon, Tues, Wed 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Thurs, Fri. and Saturdays 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Ingrid the Ungrateful?

So, a presidential candidate and her running mate venture into guerrilla-prowled territory to campaign. The pair get kidnapped by FARC guerrillas and held in the jungle for six traumatic years. Finally, they are rescued by the military in a daring operation.

And now, the ex-candidate, French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, is demanding compensation from....the government.

Yes, you read it right. From the folks who rescued her, not the terrorists who kidnapped her.

Betancourt argues that the government didn't provide her with adequate protection and that it should have negotiated her release. Whatever the level of protection, Betancourt entered the region knowing that the guerrillas were there and that they sometimes kidnapped prominent people. She even signed a document accepting the dangers of venturing there.

Betancourt isn't the only one demanding compensation for a kidnapping ordeal. But, unlike some other politicians, she seems to have almost set herself up to become a victim. Three U.S. citizens and U.S. government contractors who were kidnapped after their small plane went down on a coca plantation-hunting flight and later rescued with Betancourt are suing Chiquita Corp. because of protection payments the company made to the guerrillas.

This blog written by Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours