Thank you for read 3 Seconds in Bogotá
(please scroll done for links)
The first question every asks me, is always "Is the story really true?"
As much as anyone's memory allows after 25 years, each event was true to what happened - though some separate incidents were merged into one occurrence.
All names were changed and a couple of place names where the incidents mentioned could have caused issues.
The major events are all accurate.
What interests me, is that in many cases what was seen as unproven conspiracy theories or gossip - like 'The Disappeared' being thrown out of planes by the military, which drew disbelief from some of my friends back in London at the time - are now documented as fact.
If you're interested in delving a little deeper, here are some links that lead to some of the subjects raised within the book.
LINKS
Wayne Bobbit
Floods in Mina Clavero Argentina
Mother’s Plaza Mayor
Falklands war
Foz Igauzu - the immense waterfalls that straddle three nations
Kurt Cobain
Jimi Hendrix
The shooting of Street Kids in Latin America
(WARNING. Graphic photos/footage)
Cuzco Peru
Goröme - Capadoccia Turkey
Films to see
3 Seconds in Bogotá.
"...The truth is, that for... Bogotá, El Bronx...the ghoulish “Independent Crime Republic”.....where drug dealing and child prostitution went unchecked..... murder and dismemberment in so-called ‘chop houses’ in which the dead were fed to starving dogs, or buried under the concrete floors...."
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Video -police raid. Bodies destroyed with acid or fed to dogs
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2014 Guardian article detailing ongoing body disposal methods
Yes, the hotel owner was laughing because the skinny traveller in front of him had just turned the tables on Bogotá's underworld with a camping pocket knife.... and he didn't even have a clue what he'd done, or what he and his lady had escaped from.
We were lucky that events played out for us as they did.
How can I forget the gift of the penknife holder a day or so before?
Or the life that had given me the right words and experiences to equip me to escape the seemingly inescapable?
I'm deeply grateful.
And... now again is the time to think about the 150,000 that were less lucky than us and vanished in Colombia in the early 90s. Most of these were murdered by the gov, rebel groups and narco-traffickers. Many buried in unmarked graves. Many never found.
Rest in peace.
Charity for Bogotás street kids
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