The Kidnapping

The Kidnapping

It was June of 2002 when she received the phone call. Her children were in school except for her oldest daughter who was with her in the house.

“Hello.” Mrs. Anna answered the phone.

A man on the other side of the line replied “I am Andres Bordaz, Commander of the tenth front of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Group of Colombia). I have your husband, Cesar, with me. He is being kidnapped.”

Mrs. Anna replied “Helloooo! Arnoldo, how do you have Cesar kidnapped? He must be kidnapped between the legs of some lady.”

The men on the other line replied back. “No, seriously Mrs. Anna. I am Andres Bordaz, and we have your husband kidnapped. Do you have any banking accounts? How much money do you have? Do you have any properties? You have four children, right?”

Mrs. Anna paused for a moment and continued. “Ahhh! Arnoldo. You know that banking accounts are the ones that I need to open.”

The terrorist commander answered. “You see lady. We have your husband and we need to see you in exactly two weeks in the little town outside of Saraven.”

She took a deep breath and then she sat down. She realized that it was not her cousin Arnoldo playing a joke on her. This was real. “How? What did you say? Why?”

“Listen” the terrorist replied. “We have your husband. He is being accused of helping the paramilitaries. We need to meet you in two weeks and bring your two oldest daughters with you. Otherwise, he will die.”

She hung up the phone. Then, she took a deep breath and began crying. Her oldest daughter, Marcia, went downstairs and saw her mother crying.

“What happened mother? What is going on? Why are you crying?” Marcia asked her.

In that moment her other two daughters arrived from the College.

“What is going on?” They asked.

Mrs. Anna crying replied. “Your dad has been kidnapped by the FARC.”

“What?” Marcia replied.

“Why?” Aracely asked.

“No, nooooo! It is not true.” Jesenia said, and she started crying as loud as her lungs allowed her.

Then, Mrs. Anna told to them everything about the conversation with the terrorist. Jesenia begged to her mother go and rescue her father because she loved him so much.

Two weeks later, Mrs. Anna was traveling to Saraven without any of her children, who stayed behind in Fansia. Halfway to Saraven, she realized that there was a terrorist strike on the road, so she had to complete her travel in a truck full of terrorist. When she arrived to Saraven, she met with her mother’s cousin, Lucy. They went together to the International Red Cross to settle down the report of the kidnapping. The Red Cross let them know that they could not do anything because the Tenth Front was the most cruel and bloodthirsty group in the region. They got out of there completely disillusioned, and on the way to home they met a relative of Lucy.

They explained the situation, and he offered to help, as for the destiny reasons, he was also member of the FARC group. Mrs. Anna went with Marlon, Lucy’s relative, in a motorcycle to the place designated by the terrorist commander as a place of meeting.

“Look.” Marlon said. “All these people are from the ELN (Liberation National Army or other terrorist group). They are not here. This is an ambush for you.”

They continue their way more and more into the woods until they found a concentration camp. There Bordaz came out to receive them. He looked a bit of surprised for he was not expecting Mrs. Anna and even less her with company.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha.” Bordaz laughed maliciously. “Lady, you have come.” He pointed to somewhere in the bushes that it was not visible. “There is your husband. He is tied to the root of a tree. Where are your daughters?”

“What do you think?” Mrs. Anna replied. “Do you think that I would bear children so you could have them? You are very wrong. If you want to kill my husband, do it, but make sure you throw his body into an unknown place, because I am not going to pick up dead people.”

Bordaz looked at her staring into her eyes. “Well. I need to talk a lot of with her and I need that she stays here for ten days.”

Marlon replied to him. “Talk to her all you need right now because she is not staying.”

The terrorist commander retrieved and stood thoughtful. Then, he said “Ok. You both can leave now.”

Anna and Marlon went back to the town of Saraven where Anna’s mother, Eloise, and Lucy were waiting for them. Days passed by, and the worries grew stronger. Mrs. Anna’s children could even go outside their home in Fansia. They were completely scared of being kidnapped too. Twenty days passed by and Anna, Marlon, and Lucy received a message. “Farm Salinas, today at 3:00 pm.” They went to the place at the assigned time. There, he was, covered with a black bag on his head.

“Here is your husband, Mrs Anna.” One of the terrorists said.

“He has been indoctrinated and he is a little traumatized.” Said another terrorist.

They removed the black bag from his head, and said “There is your wife comrade.” He walked to her still shivering with his eyes lost in space. The terrorist retrieved, and Mrs. Anna with her companions and husband took a taxi back to home.

Somedays later, Anna and her husband went to the nearby town of Tumy, where her parents lived. There, they were advised to leave the town because the terrorists were following them to kill them.

Many other adventures and misfortunes happened to this family until the day that they left Colombia and went as refugees to another country, Spain, where they were able to start over with their lives and live other new adventures happily ever after.