Until Death Do Us Part : My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia - Hardcover

Ingrid Betancourt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297829637 ISBN 13: 9780297829638

Publisher: ECCO Press /Harpercollins, 2002

Synopsis

A memoir of a life in politics that reads like a fast-paced thriller, UNTIL DEATH DO US PART is the passionate story of Ingrid Betancourt's struggle against international criminals and her open confrontation of a government infested with liars and the mafia. Ingrid Betancourt grew up among artists and diplomats in elegant surroundings in Paris. Her father served as Colombia's ambassador to UNESCO and her mother, a political activist, has fought on behalf of Colombia's children for years. Ingrid was happily married to a French diplomat, with two young children, when she decided to return to Colombia to fight against the corruption ruining her country. She has been elected and re-elected as a representative and as a senator with the highest majority in the country. Her life and her family have been threatened on numerous occasions, forcing her to send her children to live with their father in New Zealand. Now running for president she was kidnapped by members of FARC in Feb and has not been seen since.

About this title

About the Author:

Ingrid Betancourt was born in Colombia but grew up in Paris. She returned to Colombia to fight against the establishment and is now a Senator. She is a presidential candidate in this year's elections, but has been kidnapped by members of FARC.

From Publishers Weekly:

In a memoir that sometimes conveys the excitement of a Clancy thriller, Betancourt recounts her remarkable life, from the Paris of her childhood (her father was Colombia's minister of education and ambassador to UNESCO) to present-day Colombia, where she has served as a senator in Bogot  and where she plans to launch her 2002 presidential campaign. That is, if she isn't assassinated first. Betancourt announces early on that she is no ordinary politician and that her reminiscences will comprise no ordinary political memoir. But what constitutes exceptional in Colombia, a country awash in political corruption and controlled by a government that is under the thumb of organized crime and vulnerable to the financial lure of illegal drug trafficking? Well, for starters, Betancourt spent her first campaign, for a seat in the House of Representatives, standing along the city's busiest streets, handing out condoms ("[O]ur poster: my photo alongside a picture of a condom, with this slogan: `The best to protect us against corruption.' " She scandalized her parents, her friends, her country, but won her seat in the House. So began Betancourt's campaign against electoral fraud and narcopoliticians, which, despite the death threats and the pressure exerted on her family, continues to this day and which won't end, as her title implies, until she wins or is killed for her efforts. Betancourt's memoir is intelligently written, if occasionally sentimental, and she passionately and clearly describes the consequences of corruption and the dangers of combating it. (Jan.)Forecast: This was a bestseller in France and Colombia. It may not reach that status here, but Betancourt's attractive face on the cover will lead people to pick it up, and her fast-paced story will keep them reading.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: ECCO Press /Harpercollins
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0297829637
• ISBN 13: 9780297829638
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224