Hostage Nation: Colombia's Guerrilla Army and the Failed War on Drugs »

Victoria Bruce is the author of No Apparent Danger: The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado del Ruiz.

Karin Hayes coproduced and codirected the award-winning documentary film, The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt.

Jorge Enrique Botero is a Colombian journalist and best-selling author. He is the only journalist who ever gained access to the American hostages while they were held by the FARC.

A blistering journalistic exposé: an account of government negligence, corporate malfeasance, familial struggle, drugs, politics, murder, and a daring rescue operation in the Colombian jungle.

On July 2, 2008, when three American private contractors and Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt were rescued after being held for more than five years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the world was captivated by their personal narratives. But between the headlines a major story was lost: Who exactly are the FARC? How had a drug-funded revolutionary army managed to hold so many hostages for so long? Had our costly War on Drugs failed completely? Hostage Nation answers these questions by exploring the complex and corrupt political and socioeconomic situations that enabled the FARC to gain unprecedented strength, influence, and impunity. It takes us behind the news stories to profile a young revolutionary in the making, an elite Colombian banker-turned-guerrilla and the hard-driven American federal prosecutor determined to convict him on American soil, and a former FBI boss who worked tirelessly to end the hostage crisis while the U.S. government disregarded his most important tool—negotiation.

With unprecedented access to the FARC’s hidden camps, exceptional research, and lucid and keen insight, the authors have produced a revelatory work of current history.

The New York Times - Megan Buskey

Even though the Obama administration retired the phrase "war on drugs" in 2009, this painstaking, readable account makes clear, the ever urgent conflict rages on, though "the battlefield is now global and the possibilities are limitless."

Prologue

1 "These Gringos Fell to Us from the Sky!" 3

2 Rules of Engagement 12

3 The Elegant Guerrilla 20

4 Friends and Neighbors 34

5 Contractor 44

6 Making Deals 58

7 The River Queen 72

8 El Cagunn 82

9 The Exchangeables 93

10 Fallout 104

11 The Second Crash 118

12 Botero 128

13 Proof of Life 144

14 Capture and Extradition 155

15 The Jungle 168

16 Trial 187

17 Emmanuel 207

18 Tucker on the Mountain 221

19 Operaci?n Jaque 238

20 Reintegration 257

Epilogue 276

Acknowledgments 283

Sources And References 287

Index 299