"Truth be told, they were mostly in it for the money"
On February 13, 2003, a plane carrying three American military
contractors on a recon patrol crash-landed in the jungle-covered
mountains of Colombia. Within minutes, FARC guerrillas swarmed the
wreckage and killed the American pilot and a Colombian crew member
as they tried to escape. The survivors--Marc Gonsalves, Keith
Stansell, and Thomas Howes--were marched at gunpoint into the rain
forest. They would live in constant darkness under the jungle
canopy as they faced starvation, fights with fellow hostages, and
threats of execution--often with their necks shackled together.
The Colombian government sent 147 soldiers to rescue the
Americans. Led by a bold yet corpulent lieutenant, the troops spent
weeks subsisting on monkey meat and Amazon rodents as they chased
the guerrillas deeper into the jungle. But then a soldier on a
bathroom break stuck his machete into the ground and pulled out 20
million pesos, equaling $7,000. Pretty soon, the young, poor, and
exhausted troops realized they had stumbled upon a buried rebel
cache of $20 million. Within three days, the GIs burned through
their newfound fortune, splurging on booze, sex, and flat-screen
televisions. And though the money brought pleasure, for many of the
soldiers it would end in criminal prosecution or even death by FARC
hit men.Law of the Jungle places the Colombian hostage story in its
full context by exploring the inner workings of the FARC, the
U.S.-backed war on drugs, and Colombia's efforts to free the
rebel-held prisoners. John Otis, a veteran journalist on the Latin
American beat, spins an edge-of-your-seat adventure narrative that
offers a shocking cautionary tale about the pursuit of fortune in
one of the world's most dangerous places.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!