Six years a hostage
One moment she was stumping on the campaign trail, and the next she was a guerrilla hostage. Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt described the physical and mental torment of spending more than six years in captivity during her remarks Wednesday (Dec. 8) at Harvard’s Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS). Rescued by the Colombian army in 2008, it was apparent that the emotional wounds from her ordeal were still fresh as Betancourt discussed her struggles — with the guards, with other hostages, and within herself — that marked the slow passage of years in jungle deprivation. Betancourt’s story was elicited through questions from History Professor Caroline Elkins, chair of the Committee on Ethnic Studies, which, along with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, sponsored the event. Betancourt’s appearance followed the release of her account of the ordeal, “Even Silence has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in...