About this item
“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.
About the Author
Born in Minnesota, John Otis has worked as a reporter in Central and South America for more than two decades, and served for eight years as South America Bureau Chief for the Houston Chronicle. His 2001 investigation of Colombia's FARC guerrillas was honored by the Overseas Press Club as the best reporting out of Latin America. He now reports from Colombia for Time, GlobalPost and PRI's The World radio program. He lives in Bogota. Law of the Jungle is his first book.
