Only in Colombia. President Alvaro Uribe named Fernando Araújo -- who, up to a few weeks ago, was being held hostage by a leftist guerrilla group -- as the new foreign minister. Araújo replaces Maria Consuelo Araújo -- no relation -- who was forced to resign after her brother, Sen. Alvaro Araújo, was arrested along with several other legislators suspected of links to a right-wing paramilitary group. Her father is being investigated for similar allegations, and there are uncorroborated assertions that President Uribe’s family members might also be indirectly linked to military outlaws.
It certainly makes a great plot for a docudrama, but it is just a glimpse of the real-life drama that has become far too familiar in Colombia.
For the past four decades, Colombians have been immersed in chaos. They have lived through everything from political assassinations to drug-related violence. Leftist rebels have turned their social struggle into a state of anarchy. Right-wing paramilitary groups often use scorched-earth tactics to eliminate their enemies. Both right- and left-wing organizations have been viewed by the U.S. as terrorist groups who support themselves with extortion, kidnappings and drug trafficking.
Only in Colombia can the country go about its business while more than 3,000 people are held hostage by either illegal armed groups or common criminals. Among the hostages are civilians, law-enforcement agents, military personnel, elected officials and a presidential candidate. Three American contractors working for the Department of Defense are among those held captive by leftist rebels. Hundreds have died either in captivity or as a result of failed rescue missions.
The newly appointed foreign minister knows all too well how dangerous that can be. Shortly after leaving his post as minister of development under the administration of former President Andres Pastrana, Araújo was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by its acronym in Spanish as the FARC -- as he jogged in his native city of Cartagena. He was held hostage for six years. On Dec. 31, 2006, in the middle of a shootout between his captors and soldiers on a military rescue mission, he was able to escape.
For five long days he walked -- and at times crawled -- through the rugged jungle of northern Colombia, trying to find his way back to civilization. The density of the vegetation made him so disoriented that at one point he thought he would not make it out alive. “The alternative of walking toward the west would take me to a mountain so massive I would not be able to cross it, and going toward the south could return me to a rebel-controlled area,” he said in a recent interview.
After days without food or drink, Araújo came upon a bonfire surrounded by yuca roots. They weren’t very appetizing, but they helped get him through the final leg of his journey. Araújo eventually found his way to a peasant’s home, who in turn led him to a town, where he found the group of Marines who took him to safety. His dramatic ordeal and political come-back have riveted the country. And they also brought much criticism of the president’s decision to appoint him to the foreign ministry, only two months after he escaped, following six years of being totally disconnected from the outside world.
Uribe’s critics say he is exploiting Araújo’s shocking experience for political gain. But his supporters claim that not only does Araújo have the experience to be foreign minister, but he could serve as a symbol of his country’s martyrdom brought about by a bloody civil war. In spite of the shadow hanging over Uribe because of his family’s alleged links to right-wing paramilitary groups, his hard-line tactics have helped the country gain some ground in the fight against drugs and terrorism.
It was the connection with right-wing paramilitaries that led to the downfall of the outgoing foreign minister and the captivity by left-wing rebels that helped her replacement land the job. Any way you look at it, it seems like illegal armed groups are still controlling life and politics in Colombia.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www
.mariaesalinas.com)
© 2007 by Maria Elena Salinas
Distributed by King Features Syndicate