Cautiva (Captive) » (Spanish-language Edition)

Clara Rojas is a lawyer and was the campaign director of Ingrid Betancourt's presidential campaign when they were kidnapped by the FARC in 2002. She gave birth to her son Emmanuel during her captivity but he was taken from her when he was only eight months old. After six years of captivity she was finally liberated. Clara and her son currently live in Bogotá, Colombia.

Translator:

Adriana V. López is the founding editor of Críticas, Publishers Weekly's sister magazine devoted to the Spanish-language publishing world. She is the co-editor of Barcelona Noir, a short story collection for Akashic Books, as well as the editor of Fifteen Candles: 15 Tales of Taffeta, Hairspray, Drunk Uncles and Other Quinceañera Stories (HarperCollins, 2007). Lopez's work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, among other publications and book anthologies. Her essays and fiction have appeared in Juicy Mangoes (Simon & Schuster, 2007), Border-Line Personalities: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass & Cultural Shifting (HarperCollins, 2004), and Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism (Seal Press, 2002). López is a member of PEN America and currently divides her time between New York and Madrid.

Clara Rojas fue secuestrada en el 2002 por las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) junto a la ex-candidata presidencial Íngrid Betancourt y liberada en el 2008 luego de casi seis años de cautiverio. En su libro Cautiva, Clara cuenta por primera vez la historia de su secuestro, el milagroso nacimiento de su hijo Emmanuel en medio de la selva, el sufrimiento inmenso por haber sido separada de su hijo cuando éste apenas tenía ocho meses de vida, y finalmente el emocionante reencuentro con él tres años después.

En este desgarrador relato, Clara revela en detalle el dolor de dar a luz en medio de la selva en manos de un enfermero que antes sólo había atendido a animales, el cansancio de largas caminatas de hasta ocho horas a través de la selva, el miedo de no saber si terminaría viva al final del día, y su amistad con Íngrid Betancourt, que no sobrevivió a la prueba del secuestro.

Ésta es también una historia de fe que revela que Clara nunca perdió la esperanza de volver a ver a su hijo y que la ilusión de volverlo a ver fue lo único que la motivó a seguir luchando

Library Journal

Rojas was taken prisoner by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) in 2002 along with Ingrid Betancourt, whose campaign for the presidency of Colombia she managed. Held in the jungle for six years before being freed, Rojas has an amazing story to tell. Though Betancourt was and is the international celebrity among FARC kidnap victims, Rojas's case aroused special interest in Latin America because she became pregnant while in captivity and gave birth—in the jungle, at nearly 40 years of age—to her first child, a baby boy from whom she was separated before his first birthday. They were not reunited until Rojas's release in 2008's Operation Emmanuel, named for the boy and organized by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Cautiva does not put to rest the speculation surrounding the father of Emmanuel or the circumstances of Rojas's pregnancy; she writes simply that she will discuss those matters with her son when the time is right. Nevertheless, Rojas does share a great many of the experiences and emotions she had as a prisoner and a mother, including the eventual chill in her relationship with Betancourt. She implicitly contrasts her own unflappably positive attitude, which she credits to her religious faith, with that of the more easily discouraged Betancourt, whose unflattering portrayal is perhaps the book's most surprising revelation. Indeed, Rojas attributes their capture itself to rash decisions made by her erstwhile friend, coupled with her own loyalty to the woman and to the campaign. A surprisingly easy read; recommended for libraries and bookstores.—Bruce Jensen, Rohrbach Lib., Kutztown, PA
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