UNTIL DEATH DO US PART: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia

By Ingrid Betancourt

Book Overview

Ingrid Betancourt, a senator and a presidential candidate in Colombia, grew up among diplomats, literati, and artists who congregated at her parents' elegant home in Paris, France. Her father served as Colombia's ambassador to UNESCO and her mother, a political activist, continued her work on behalf of the country's countless children whose lives were being destroyed by extreme poverty and institutional neglect. Intellectually, Ingrid was influenced by Pablo Neruda and other Latin American writers like Gabriel Garc a M rquez, who frequented her parents' social circle. She studied at cole de Sciences Politiques de Paris, a prestigious academy in France. From this charmed life, Ingrid Betancourt -- not yet thirty, happily married to a French diplomat, and a mother of two children -- returned to her native country in the late 1980s. On what was initially just a visit, she found her country under internal siege from the drug cartels and the corrupt government that had allowed them to flourish. After seeing what had become of Colombia's democracy, she didn't feel she could leave. Until Death Do Us Part is the deeply personal story of a woman who gave up a life of comfort and safety to become a political leader in a country being slowly demolished by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. It is a country where democracy has been sacrificed for the well-being of the few, where international criminals determine policy, and where political assassinations are a way of life. Now forty, Ingrid Betancourt has been elected and reelected as a representative and as a senator in Colombia's national legislature. She has founded a political party that has openly confronted Colombia's leaders and has earned the respect of a nation. And now she has become a target of the establishment and the drug cartels behind it. Forced to move her children out of Colombia for protection against death threats, Ingrid Betancourt remained and continued to fight the political structure that has crumbled under the destructive power of the paramilitary forces, the financial omnipotence of the drug cartels, and the passivity of governmentfor-sale. Here is a political cocktail that has destroyed countless lives in Colombia and has spread to countries beyond its borders. A memoir of a life in politics that reads like a fastpaced political thriller, Until Death Do Us Part -- already an international bestseller -- is a hair-raising account of one woman's fight against the establishment. It is a story of a woman whose love for her country and faith in democracy gave her the courage to stand up to the power that has subjugated, intimidated, or corrupted all those who opposed it. A chilling account of the dangerous, byzantine machine that runs Colombia, it is also an inspiring story of privilege, sacrifice, and true patriotism.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060008903
• ISBN13: 9780060008901
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Ecco
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.9" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Great mind, fantastic life

Ingrid was candidate for the presidency of Colombia when she has been kidnapped by the Colombian guerilla in February 2002. Since she is still detained and her family received one tape from her in July 2002. Everywhere in the world people start to mobilize for her liberation. She wrote this book just before her kidnapping, when she was a Colombian senator. During all her politic life she has been fighting corruption and drug traffic. She is a model of integrity for us. She believes in Colombia and shows us the good face of this country.

EXCELENTE

LEI ESTE LIBRO EN MENOS DE UNA SEMANA. SOY UNA LECTORA CONTINUA DE DISTINTOS TIPOS DE LIBROS. CONSIDERO QUE ESTE ES UNO DE LOS MEJORES QUE HE LEIDO. LA FORMA EN QUE ELLA PRESENTA LAS SITUACIONES DE SU DIARIO VIVIR COMO PERSONA POLITICA PUBLICA, COMO AMA DE CASA, MADRE, HIJA, Y SOBRETODO, CIUDADANA DE SU PAISES, DE SUMA REVELANCIA.NO ES UNA NOVELA DE FICCION, SINO ES LA NARRACION DE HECHOS HISTORICOS RECIENTES NARRADOS DESDE UNA PERPECTIVA SUMAMENTE INTERESANTE. ES UNA FORMA DE CONOCER LA POLITICA DE ESTE PAIS.

Can I give it 6 stars?

This is a wonderfully gripping book from the very first pages, an inspiring story of just how much one person can accomplish in a short period of time. The writier effectively keeps Ingrid human, exploring her relationships with her children and others, while keeping the focus on her political activities. This woman has sacrificed everything for her country. Others have suggested she is arrogant or self-serving - that does not come across to me at all. Ingrid has since been kidnapped - I hope others will read this book to get at least a brief look at the political climate of Colombia and consider what we can do to help.

The real cancer of Colombia

For anybody living outside Colombia, but also for Colombians, it seems that the guerrillas can be blamed for all the war that has been going on for the last 40 years, enhanced by the drug wars in the last 20 years. But reality is, and this is very well described from the very top of our government by Ingrid Betancourt, that the origin of all evil in Colombia comes from the government, from the traditional families who share power and rob Colombians until nothing is left.The traditional families are powerful and very well organized, and as Colombians say, they all have "rabo de paja" (literaly hay tail, but in this case it means that nobody can stand up because everybody in the government is as corrupt as the other one). They are financed by the US to battle against "terrorists" and to poison the country through coca erradication, and they manage to have all the Colombians fighting for them against each other. The people in the guerrilla and in the army are poor people, with little education, and they fight each other, sometimes brother against brother, while the landlords and the government keep corrupting and stealing. And the press covers everything up with missinformation.The guerrilla has to change their ways. They have to fight corruption and not civilians. The press has to unveal corruption, and the US has to stop supporting corrupt criminals; it is not the first time this happens, and corrupt governments fall sooner or later, too often against the interests of the US (Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran...).There is hope though, and until there are people left like Ingrid Betancourt, or like Antanas Mockus (currently Bogota's mayor), people who do not steal, who do not share with corrupt criminals, but who want a better future for Colombians, there is hope in Colombia. What can the simple Colombian do to chnage from a passive spectator to an active supporter of a bettter Colombia? That is the big question for many Colombians. Meanwhile many Colombians will go to elections to decide who is going to steal next. Ingrid, thank you for showing us in detail what we already suspected and now corroborated. Do not stop. We owe you for all your sacrifices.

Formidable

This is a great book that everybody should read. Specially those women that want be in the political arena in the USA and do not do it. If women from Machista countries can do it, American women can do it. This shows how strong a woman can be without losing her woman side. Congratulations Ingrid and I hope you become the next president of Colombia.Felicidades