An Hour With Ingrid Betancourt: CANCELLED

On 23 February 2002 Ingrid Betancourt was a Colombian presidential candidate on her way to a meeting in San Vincente. Stopped by men dressed in military garb, she instinctively looked down at their shoes. “They were black boots... I’d been taught how to identify boots. If they were leather, it was the army; if they were rubber, it was the FARC. These were rubber.” So began her six and a half year ordeal, held hostage in the jungle by a brutal terrorist guerrilla organisation. Even Silence Has an End describes her numerous escape attempts, the harrowing physical and emotional conditions and the psychological impact of intense deprivation, the constant need to move camps which entailed days of trekking through dense jungle in chains, and the complex human relationships which developed – both with fellow prisoners and captors. Ultimately we are inspired by her determination to cling to her humanity, and the dignity and compassion she somehow manages to maintain in the face of extreme provocation. Chair: Chris Laidlaw.

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