Synopses & Reviews
Ingrid Betancourt, a senator and a presidential candidate in Colombia, grew up among diplomats, literati, and artists who congregated at her parents' elegant home in Paris, France. Her father served as Colombia's ambassador to UNESCO and her mother, a political activist, continued her work on behalf of the country's countless children whose lives were being destroyed by extreme poverty and institutional neglect. Intellectually, Ingrid was influenced by Pablo Neruda and other Latin American writers like Gabriel Garcí a Má rquez, who frequented her parents' social circle. She studied at É cole de Sciences Politiques de Paris, a prestigious academy in France.
From this charmed life, Ingrid Betancourt -- not yet thirty, happily married to a French diplomat, and a mother of two children -- returned to her native country in the late 1980s. On what was initially just a visit, she found her country under internal siege from the drug cartels and the corrupt government that had allowed them to flourish. After seeing what had become of Colombia's democracy, she didn't feel she could leave.
Until Death Do Us Part is the deeply personal story of a woman who gave up a life of comfort and safety to become a political leader in a country being slowly demolished by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. It is a country where democracy has been sacrificed for the well-being of the few, where international criminals determine policy, and where political assassinations are a way of life.
Now forty, Ingrid Betancourt has been elected and reelected as a representative and as a senator in Colombia's national legislature. She has founded a political partythat has openly confronted Colombia's leaders and has earned the respect of a nation. And now she has become a target of the establishment and the drug cartels behind it.
Forced to move her children out of Colombia for protection against death threats
Synopsis
In 2002, Colombian senator, anticorruption crusader, and presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped by leftist guerrillas. She was their prisoner for more than six years. Until now.
Until Death Do Us Part is the deeply personal autobiography of an extraordinary woman who gave up a life of comfort and safety to become a political leader in a country slowly being demolished by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. A memoir that reads like a fast-paced political thriller—at once poignant, chilling, and inspiring—it is a story of a reformer, a mother, a patriot whose love for her country and faith in democracy gave her the courage to stand up to the power that has subjugated, intimidated, or corrupted all those who opposed it . . . and ultimately paid an unimaginable price for her commitment.
About the Author
Ingrid Betancourt was rescued from captivity on July 2, 2008.