Kidnapped, tortured and threatened, F.L. Paz refuses to be silenced

By Madeleine Bair

Sitting in a Berkeley coffee shop, the middle-aged man doesn’t appear out of the ordinary. With frameless glasses, short hair, and a thick accent, he could be a visiting professor

at the local university. A passing stranger does not see the scar on his right torso, or the water that fi lls his eyes as he recounts his past – the physical and emotional wounds of a man who has faced death and still wonders why he is alive today to tell his story.

“My name is F.L. Paz,” he begins his tale, “and I am over forty years old.” The vague details reveal the fear that he lives with as he shares his experience of escaping from one of the world’s most notorious terrorist organizations.

Several years ago, F.L. Paz, a Colombian businessman, became yet another victim of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, known as FARC. Established in the 1960’s as the armed wing of Colombia’s Communist Party, the group today controls a vast region of the Colombian jungle. Proceeds from cocaine trafficking, extortion, and kidnapping of innocent civilians fund the group.

When FARC murdered Mr. Paz’s business partner and best friend, he became inflamed with a furious passion that changed the course of his life forever. Mr. Paz began by writing a book about the wounds inflicted on his country by FARC’s ruthless tactics.

Frustrated by his government’s inability to stop the FARC and blinded by his emotions, Paz wanted to do more, no matter the risks. “I wanted to avenge the death of my friend,” he recalls. He planned to travel to the FARC-controlled region known as the “red zone” to observe the FARC and its dealings with drug traffickers.

He wanted to publish an expose on the organization and its corrupt tactics for the rest of the world to see. Without telling his wife or daughters, he set out to the dangerous region alone.

But waiting for Mr. Paz in the jungle were FARC soldiers, convinced he was a spy for American or Colombian anti-drug forces. His plan evaporated as the soldiers began hours of physical torture, what would be the beginning of Mr. Paz’s six months of captivity.

His breath quickens and his face swells with blood as Mr. Paz recalls the innumerable horrors he experienced during that time: soldiers pierced needles underneath his fingernails before dragging him by his limbs through the forest; he witnessed a boy soldier shoot a man at pointblank range while the victim’s family watched. In the midst of a battle between FARC and government forces, Paz made his escape and ran for two days with another captive through the jungle.

Around the world, pressure on the Colombian government to bring FARC activities to a halt is growing. Earlier this year, millions of demonstrators in Colombia and around the world protested in the streets to demand justice for FARC victims.

At the rally in downtown San Francisco, F.L.Paz added his voice to the crowd calling for peace in Colombia. Despite his constant fear that his captors will find him again, he says he must raise his voice in protest. “They kidnapped me. They tried to kill me. They wanted to kill my family,” he says. “This is not right.”