Hostages’ stories fill bookshelves in Colombia

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Hostage stories are hot property these days.

Bookstores in Colombia are full of gripping tales by former hostages detailing how they survived forced marches, military bombing runs, jungle-borne parasites and the abuse of sadistic guards, writes Juan Forero for the Washington Post in Bogota.

A few of the authors, explains Forero, have gone deeper, explaining their frailties under harrowing conditions or ‘recounting the inevitable human drama that unfolded in the jungle, from rivalries in makeshift prisons to the romances that blossomed between some hostages.’

And Colombians are awaiting the release of a book by former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian former presidential candidate who was liberated last year after being held for more than six years by the Colombian rebel force FARC.

The books have generated a swirl of controversy in a country where people tend to be wary of airing intimacies in public. Some critics have strongly rebuked the trend.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City