Scott Allan’s World

My wife has been telling me for several years that the situation in Colombia is improving under President Uribe. The FARC has been pushed out to the remote areas of the jungle, even into neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador who are sympathetic to their narco-terrorist ways. Colombia has recently captured or killed many FARC leaders. I was overjoyed to see the three American hostages and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt freed rescued after several years of captivity and torture. Once the FARC has you, they will never, ever let you go. Unless of course you take advantage of their stupidity and trick them into giving up their hostages. This is the main reason I hesitate to go to Colombia to visit my wife’s family. I love her and all, but spending a lifetime as a pack mule for terrorists is not really in my plans. So no matter how slim the risk, I’m not ready to take that chance yet.

I am looking forward to see what happens next. Hopefully the government can soon destroy what is left of the FARC and do it soon while momentum is on their side. It might be difficult given the lack of support the Democrats in the U.S. give our strongest South American ally. The other possibility is that the FARC has become so humiliated that they will see a need to replenish their supply of American hostages which currently stands at zero. As I see it, if the United States State Department has placed a country on the Do Not Travel List, I’m not going there. If you go anyways and have a problem, you are pretty much on your own.

So I ask you, what would you do if captured? Would you persevere and try to hang on as long as you can using your family’s memory for strength? Remember, the U.S. position is to not negotiate with terrorists which I completely understand. Or would you just kill yourself not letting them have the satisfaction of getting the best of you? You could always try to escape, but really, how are you going to find your way out of the jungle? And once they have you back… oh boy… you’ll really pay then.

I think I’d probably see if I could bear the initial torture extrapolating the suffering out into the future and deciding if I could handle it. Then soon after resigning myself to a life of captivity, I would simply refuse to eat so that I would quickly become a useless burden to them. What would you do?