First Short Quiz & Suggested Answers

[johnkarls]

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SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO THE FIRST SHORT QUIZ

Question 1

What was President John Kennedy's Alliance for Progress?

Answer 1

President Kennedy's Alliance for Progress was a massive foreign-aid program for the social and economic development of Latin America. Many commentators remarked about how it eclipsed by far Kennedy's dramatic "Race to the Moon" program which he also conceived and launched.

The reason for the Alliance for Progress was that Fidel Castro had just taken over Cuba and was trying to export revolution to the rest of Latin America.

Ingrid Betancourt's father, who had been Minister of Education for the Colombian Government, became the head of the Education Commission of President Kennedy's Alliance for Progress.

Unfortunately, unlike President Kennedy's "Peace Corps" and "Race to the Moon" programs, the Alliance for Progress did not survive his assassination.

Gabriel Betancourt moved on to become Deputy Director of UNESCO.

Question 2

What was Colombia's Oxygen Green political party?

Answer 2

Ingrid Betancourt founded the Oxygen Green political party in 1998 to fight corruption and to fight for the poor and dispossessed.

This was four years before she was kidnapped while running for President of Colombia, but 4 years after she had been elected to the Colombian Senate after serving a 2-year term in the Colombian House of Representatives.

Previously, she had been a member of Colombia's Liberal Party in which both of her parents had been prominent.

Question 3

What were/are the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ("FARC")?

Answer 3

In Colombia, "The Violence" refers to 1948-1965 when the country was transformed into "Conservative" and "Liberal" areas BY ETHNIC CLEANSING (burning, rape and killing).

Thereafter, you were a "Conservative" or a "Liberal" depending on where you were born. Although the "Conservative" and "Liberal" areas of the country had already been established, the "Conservative" and "Liberal" political parties remained at each others throats as much as the British and Irish during the centuries after Britain left the Catholic Church, and as much as Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India following independence from the Brits in 1949.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ("FARC") is the oldest communist-guerrilla group in Latin America. It is the many-decades-long guerrilla effort to liberate the peasants of the "Conservative" areas of the country from their masters and/or landlords.

It is also one of Colombia's largest drug cartels since its military campaigns are financed by drug money.

Question 4

How many peasants have been driven off the land by Colombian drug cartels to live in poverty in Colombia's cities? What percentage is this of the total population of Colombia?

Answer 4

4 million.

10%.

Question 5

Why was the FARC permitted to capture Ingrid and hold her prisoner for 6.5 years in the Colombian jungle?

Answer 5

FARC was permitted to capture Ingrid because she had based her whole political career on fighting corruption and because corruption has always been pervasive in both of Colombia's political parties courtesy of the drug cartels.

Indeed, Ingrid's earlier book ("Until Death Do Us Part: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia"), which was published just before her capture by the FARC in 2002, was very critical of the previous President, Ernesto Samper, even though he and Ingrid had belonged to the same Liberal Party. Indeed, Ernesto Samper sued Ingrid for defamation for her claims that he had accepted bribes from the drug lords in general (and the Cali cartel in particular) and for implying that he had been behind the assassinations of at least four key witnesses while impeachment proceedings were pending against him.

His successor, President Pastrana, was also a member of the Liberal Party. Ingrid had supported him on condition that he implement major reforms against political corruption.

President Pastrana broke his word, so Ingrid created Oxygen Green as a third party.

Because of her reputation, the reputation of her parents, and her overwhelming popularity, she probably would have unseated Pastrana as a third-party candidate. However, on 8/23/2002 Pastrana suddenly withdrew her security in a FARC-controlled area which resulted in her capture.

Her capture occurred 3 months before the Presidential election. As was probably anticipated by President Pastrana, her Oxygen Green party did not really survive in her absence.

Question 6

Under what kind of conditions was Ingrid held captive?

Answer 6

Unspeakable!!! READ THE BOOK!!!

Indeed, as noted in Q&A-10, after her fourth escape attempt she was subjected not only to the normal torture but also, at the order of the local FARC commander, to gang rape.

Incidentally, even the gang rape did not intimidate Ingrid from making further escape attempts.

Question 7

In the PBS News Hour interview of Ingrid on 11/4/2010, did Margaret Warner ask whether the FARC guards were sadistic? How did Ingrid's answer compare to the views expressed in the famous novel "Lord of the Flies" (though Ingrid did not refer to it)?

Answer 7

Yes, Margaret did ask whether FARC guards were sadistic.

And yes, Ingrid did say that sadism always lurked just below the surface for the FARC guards, though she did NOT mention "Lord of the Flies" whose theme is that such sadism lurks just below the surface for all human beings including British schoolboys.

Question 8

Did Ingrid's fellow prisoners collaborate with their captors in order to survive, much like some Jews collaborated with Hitler's concentration-camp guards in order to survive?

Answer 8

Yes. Indeed, Clara Rojas, one of Ingrid's fellow captives who wrote a book ("Captive: 2,147 Days in the Colombian Jungle"), actually bore a son fathered by one of the guerrillas.

Clara, incidentally, had joined Ingrid's political campaign as an administrative aide shortly before their capture. Although their relationship involved quite a bit of tension, Clara participated with Ingrid in her first three escape attempts -- but not the fourth which ended in the gang rape. They were separated after two years (FARC had 10,000 prisoners spread throughout innumerable camps), and Ingrid never saw Clara again during their captivity. However, at the time of their separation, Clara was pregnant and Ingrid agreed to be the "God Mother" of what turned out to be Clara's son.

[The other book by fellow prisoners ("Out of Captivity: 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle") was written by three Americans who had been employed by Northrup Grumman as pilots of single-engine Cessnas to hunt FARC guerrillas for the Colombian government. Although all of the captives were constantly pitted against each other by the FARC guards, the Americans were particularly disliked by the other members of Ingrid's group which comprised four prominent Colombian politicians and eight members of the Colombian armed forces and police. However, Ingrid had a particularly-close kindred-spirit relationship with Marc Gonsalves, one of the three Americans.]

Question 9

How many times did Ingrid attempt to escape despite the inevitable torture that would follow each unsuccessful attempt? Was she willing to kill in order to escape successfully?

Answer 9

It is not clear how many times she tried to escape, though there were at least six attempts.

Ironically, the third attempt with Clara (described in Q&A-8) would have succeeded if they had gone just 2-3 more miles rather than stopping to rest.

The fifth (or later) attempt was made with a much older male Colombian Senator who developed a strong kindred-spirit relationship with Ingrid, and it would also have succeeded in all probability if they had been more alert.

The sixth (or later) attempt was planned with a member of the Colombian armed forces. At the last minute, Ingrid was unable to go because of malaria. He succeeded in reaching freedom!!!

Ingrid's book spends 2-3 pages describing how she wrestled with the question of whether she would be willing to kill in order to escape BEFORE CONCLUDING THAT SHE WOULD NOT.

Question 10

Did the collaboration of fellow prisoners with their captors and Ingrid's defiance, including her attempts to escape which often made life worse for the other prisoners (in addition to the much-more-severe torture for Ingrid including gang rape ordered by the camp commander), result in her resentment from her fellow prisoners?

Answer 10

She was resented by a few of them (particularly two of the three Americans), because all of them experienced additional suffering following each of Ingrid's unsuccessful attempts. [For example, they might also be chained up because the guerrillas were now more aware of the escape possibilities.]

Question 11

What did Ingrid's mother, children and husband do during her 6.5 years of captivity?

Answer 11

Ingrid's mother made frequent trips around the world to enlist political support for pressure on the FARC to secure Ingrid's release.

And she never failed, even during her trips, to call each night the Colombian radio stations that were permitting relatives of the hostages to broadcast messages to their loved ones.

Ingrid's two children also broadcast messages to Ingrid frequently over the radio stations, even though they were now living with their father, Ingrid's first husband who was a French diplomat then serving in the Caribbean.

Ingrid's second husband never joined the broadcasts. Shortly after Ingrid's capture, radio news reports noted that he had "moved on" and was now living with another woman. Although "Even Silence Has An End" itself ends with her release from captivity, Ingrid mentioned in her SLC presentation that when she and her second husband did finally meet, the first and only thing he said was: "Can I continue to live in your house?" She said it was the only thing that they ever said to each other after her release in July 2008 through her SLC presentation in October 2010. However, news reports state that he has filed suit against Ingrid to obtain 50% ownership of her residences in Bogata Columbia, the U.S. and France, and he has even asked the courts to give him 50% of her royalties!!!

Question 12

What is Ingrid's view of whether negotiations should ever take place for hostages, or whether hostages should just be written off in order to discourage future hostage taking? How does her view contrast with, say, the views of the Israeli government?

Answer 12

Ingrid firmly believes that the release of hostages should always be pursued aggressively.

Many governments, including the Bush Administration vis-à-vis Ingrid's fellow American hostages (please see Q&A-8) and the Israeli government for the first few decades after its creation in 1949, shunned any negotiations for hostages on the grounds that it would merely encourage additional hostage taking.

However, in recent decades, the Israeli government has negotiated for hostages and, recently, even negotiated for the release of the dead body of a member of its armed forces. These deals have typically involved prisoner exchanges exceeding 10:1. The disparate ratios, incidentally, have often been cited by the Israeli government as evidence of its moral superiority to Hamas and Hezbollah on the grounds that the Israelis place a greater value on human life.

Question 13

What do conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy and liberal Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have in common?

Answer 13

Because of Ingrid's dual French-Colombian citizenship and previous pressure for her release applied by her University Professor and mentor French Foreign Minister and then Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, French President Nicolas Sarkozy launched a diplomatic campaign to free her upon assuming office.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez used President Sarkozy's campaign as a reason for massing troops on the Venezuelan border with Colombia and the Colombian Government quickly freed Ingrid before Venezuela could invade!!!

Question 14

Does Ingrid have any interest in ever returning to Colombia or ever re-entering politics?

Answer 14

No. No.

Question 15

How did Ingrid's security for her 10/23/2010 speech in SLC compare/contrast with security for U.S. presidents?

Answer 15

It was far superior, based on the personal observations of Yours Truly.

Ingrid's private security (there was no publicly-provided security in evidence) was extremely tight with at least a dozen very-alert heavily-armed personnel who were spread around the Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School gymnasium where she was speaking and who were in constant walkie-talkie contact with each other in Spanish. And who knows how many plain-clothes agents there were in addition.

In sharp contrast, President Clinton could easily have been assassinated in August 1993, the only opportunity Yours Truly has had to really evaluate the Secret Service.

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[If you are not really interested in the short-comings of the U.S. Secret Service, please skip the rest of this Suggested Answer.]
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August 1993 was the Clintons' first summer in the White House. Unused to the ways of Washington, they were completely unaware until the very last moment that Congress always leaves town for the month of August. With no plans, the Clintons were offered by Robert McNamara (Defense Secretary under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and, by this time, President of the World Bank) the use of his mansion and staff on Martha's Vineyard. Martha's Vineyard (where the Obamas are vacationing this month) is a liberal-bastion posh island off the southern coast of Cape Cod, not far from a conservative-bastion posh island named Nantucket.

My "ex" of 33 years and I were already vacationing on Martha's Vineyard when the newspapers announced that the Clinton's would be arriving in 2-3 days and would be dining in posh restaurants. Since we were also dining in posh restaurants, we decided that it would be fun to bump into them. Right restaurants but wrong evenings!!!

I awoke with a start on Sunday morning, the Clintons' last day on Martha's Vineyard. Shaking my "ex", I exclaimed: "They're going to go to church because their PR people will tell them that it won't look good to skip church just because they're on vacation." Irritated, my "ex" protested that Martha's Vineyard has lots of churches. Intrigued, I pointed out that there are 4-5 major towns on Martha's Vineyard including Oak Bluffs, which had had a long history of being an African-American religious-campground community - "They'll go to Oak Bluffs" I said excitedly, grabbing a Yellow Pages to look for a Methodist Church (Hillary had been raised Methodist) or a Baptist Church (Bill was raised Baptist). No Methodist or Baptist Church in Oak Bluffs, but a listing for an "INTER-DENOMINATIONAL CAMPGROUND TABERNACLE"!!! "That's where they'll be!!!" I exclaimed. Irritated again, my "ex" said: "You're too late to get in because you know what the Secret Service was reported in the press as doing at all those restaurants -- immediately preventing anyone from entering or leaving after the arrival of the Clintons so that potential assassins wouldn't discover where they were dining." Inspired, I rhapsodized: "They'll have airport-style metal detectors because it won't look good for American citizens to be told that they can't attend church today because the President is here."

Disgusted, my "ex" and my 10-year-old daughter rolled over to go back to sleep.

But my 13-year-old son jumped in the car with me for the race across Martha's Vineyard (we were on the Western end to enjoy the surf and sunsets).

There were the airport-style metal detectors!!!

We entered during the closing hymn and slid down the left-side wall during the closing prayer. We were the closest people to the Clintons when the prayer finished. My hand was the first they shook (my son Michael's was the second).

Babbling for 15-20 seconds, I said to Hillary: "My wife is the President of the Wellesley Club for Fairfield County CT and our daughter is named Hilary and wants to attend Wellesley." [Hillary Clinton attended Wellesley College before Yale Law School.]

Hillary looked pained, like she heard such babble zillions of times per day.

On sudden inspiration, I finished my sentence with: "And we sponsor an 'I Have A Dream' Program in CT and Gene Lang sends his regards."

[I knew that Hillary had served on Gene's IHAD-National Advisory Board until the 1992 Iowa caucuses, but I was fibbing about having contacted Gene in the 2-3 days following the announcement the Clintons would come to Martha's Vineyard.]

Hillary came alive!!! She insisted on discussing IHAD, education, inner cities' problems, etc., etc., for 15-20 minutes while President Clinton greeted everyone else in the crowd -- while constantly looking back to puzzle over whether I was somebody he had failed to recognize!!!

Hillary is the "salt of the earth"!!! And I don't understand why she got mixed up with universal health care during her husband's presidency, rather than concentrating on inner-city education and convincing him to do the same!!!

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Back on message of Secret-Service incompetence!!!
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The Oak Bluffs Tabernacle appeared identical to the main "Music Shed" at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony's summer home = a huge circular ceiling perhaps 150 feet in diameter supported on top of huge metal I-beams about 20 feet in the air. However, unlike the Tanglewood "Music Shed" which is open, the Oak Bluffs Tabernacle had heavy green vinyl stretched across each of the openings between the I-beams to form a complete enclosure except for an entrance at the rear.

The Secret Service had formed a 30-foot-wide "no man's land" with saw-horse crowd barriers completely encircling the Tabernacle, except for the airport-style metal detectors at the rear exit.

And every 10-15 feet were heavily-armed Secret Service Agents brandishing, among other things, automatic weapons.

It was obvious that anyone who tried to enter the Tabernacle without going through the metal detectors was going to be killed without even getting half way across the "no man's land"!!!

But Mike and I were just about to exit through the metal detectors after meeting the Clintons when a woman suddenly scrambled under the heavy green vinyl about 20 feet to our right and, camera in hand, went running down toward the President!!!

Immediately realizing that the Secret Service had been oblivious because they thought it was so obvious that anyone would be killed instantly for attempting such a thing, I screamed over my shoulder to Mike: "Follow me, emergency"!!!

Despite being 13, Mike began to wail because he thought we would be separated and he would never see me again!!!

But I had seen enough James Bond movies to "know" that the woman would not have risked instant death unless she was an assassin and the "camera" was a disguised firearm!!!

President Clinton was still surrounded by a crowd about 2-3 people deep with whom he was continuing to chat. I arrived right behind the "assassin" who was reaching her "camera" above everyone's heads and was aiming it down at the President!!!

I purposely barrelled into her, knocking her forward and causing her camera to swing upward toward the ceiling. A flash, but no loud report and no splinters from the ceiling!!!

She re-aimed and I barrelled into her again. Another flash but, again, no loud report and no splinters from the ceiling!!!

Nobody, including the Secret Service Agents next to President Clinton, noticed that I had barrelled into the woman twice. And she was so intent on taking the President's picture that she ignored me and took aim once more. I looked around for Michael.

I was irate that it was so each to "psych out" where the President would be that Sunday morning and that the woman could easily have been a real assassin!!!

However, Mike was still "freaking out" and I didn't think it would do any good to tell the Secret Service how abysmally they had performed!!! So we left without further ado.

Question 16

How would Colombia be different today if Ingrid had been permitted to become President in 2002?

Answer 16

We'll never know!!!