Books to Read before Coming to Colombia: Review of “Law of the Jungle” by John Otis.

Chained to trees by the neck, manipulated, left staring down the barrel of their captors’ guns, fearing for their lives on a daily basis and surviving the unpleasant trials of jungle captivity, the tale of the rescue of the three American contractors from the clutches of the Colombian FARC guerrillas is one of the most astounding in recent years. In his compelling book “Law of the Jungle” John Otis, the Houston Chronicle’s South American Bureau Chief, grapples with the intricacies of the lives of the three contractors, their role in Colombia’s long running internal conflict and how they fit into the bigger picture.

Held for an unthinkable 1,966 days Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes became pawns in a political struggle between the hardline policies of the former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe – a powerful figure intent on destroying the guerrillas militarily – and the foreign policy of former US President George W Bush, himself already bogged down in the mire of Iraq.

Anecdotal and insightful, Otis’ writing explores the relationship that the Colombian grunt soldiers have with the “green hell” of the jungle and the perilous tours of duty that they are required to endure while bringing into play the international diplomacy efforts of French President Nicolas Sarkozy – intent on freeing former Colombian Presidential candidate and French citizen through marriage Ingrid Betancourt as his foreign affairs effort – and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, himself an erstwhile guerrilla sympathizer.

This may all seem a tad complex for the casual visitor to Colombia, but, in reality, those that come to this at times troubled country and dig beneath the luster of the exclusivity of the colonial city of Cartagena and can pull themselves from the gringo ghetto of Taganga may well be in need of a thorough yet readable background to Colombia’s contemporary situation.

But as you read “Law of the Jungle” and understand how miserable leishmaniasis can be, you will also be expected to understand quite how dependent US military policy in Colombia is on the work of and outsourcing to private contractors. Keep these facts in mind when watching the news taking place in Afghanistan and Iraq.

So, in the first of this series to be written here in the Nile Guide about books to read prior to arriving in Colombia, you are recommended to pick an edition of John Otis’ book to gain a further understanding of Colombia to ensure that you can fully grasp the situation here.