Subject: re: kidnapped birders in Colombia
Date: Mar 31 11:21:34 1998
From: Nuff Said - nuffsaid at escape.com



Hi, all.
I sent over a dozen posts from Tweeters and Birdchat to my
journalist friend who specializes in Latin America (usually Central
America) and got this response. Since many of the people reading this
know the people captured in Colombia or bird in Latin America themselves,
I'm forwarding his response, with his permission.
---------------------
Ken:

I read over the material you sent me.

For starters, yes, people DO tend to get released unharmed in these
situations. I was arrested by the civil patrols in a remote village in the
Guatemala highlands for being out after curfew back in '85. They tied me
up, marched me at rifle-point to their camp and put me in a little bamboo
tiger-cage, like in Apocalypse Now. But I didn't panic, I politely
demanded to speak to their superior, and explained I was just a tourist.
In a couple of hours I was free.

Hopefully your friends in Colombia are keeping their wits and etiquette
about them. Probably, that is all they will need to survive this ordeal.

The FARC may be corrupt, dogmatic and have totalitarian tendencies, but it
is NOT my understanding that they have a penchant for senseless brutality
or sadism. We aren't talking Pol Pot here.

On the other hand, it is ominous that they are talking about ransom, and
have fielded the possibility of holding these folks for up to a year.

I hope that the captives' families are not just relying on press
reports. I can't overemphasize the importance of establishing a direct
line of communication with the captors. I believe that they should:

1. Contact all of the three human rights organizations listed in my
previous post, and see if they can be put directly in touch with FARC
representatives.

2. Be entirely honest and straightforward about who these folks are, what
they were doing in Colombia and the income levels of their families.

3. Always exercise the utmost politeness in dealing with any FARC
representatives, as trying as this may be.

4. Get a crash course in Colombian politics, so they can maneuver adeptly
if it comes to negotiations.

They may wish to check out the May issue of High Times (on sale now),
which includes the story by my friend Teun Voeten, the Dutch
photojournalist who intentionally got himself kidnapped by the FARC, more
or less. He made friends with his captors, explained he was just a
journalist, and was released unharmed after a few days.

Let's hope for the best, and please keep me posted. You can forward this
to anyone you think may find it useful.

forwarded by Ken Gale
New York City
nuffsaid at escape.com

Happy bird-day