Following reports last week about two Israeli backpackers who had been abducted in the jungles of Colombia and later miraculously released, it emerged this week that the local tour guide who was with them, had been killed, apparently by the kidnappers.
According to Colombian police, the tour guide had been shot six times, and her body was discovered in the jungle not far from the abduction site. The suspects in her murder are separatists from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC – a terrorist group that had been active in Colombia for decades. Two years ago, the organization agreed to lay down arms but operatives have continued some underground activity.
On Saturday, May 19, Galel Yakov and Omer Yefet, on a cannabis tour led by guide Monica Blanco, visited a marijuana farm near Cali, Colombia, a fairly routine activity in the region. As they exited the farm, a FARC member took them into the jungle, where armed men were awaiting them. The group demanded $200,000 for their release.
"The 'patron' arrived in a white Jeep," they recalled, "and entered our vehicle. These were moments of sheer terror, and we're only now beginning to comprehend what we went through. We could have died in the middle of the jungle. There were long hours of anxiety, but at the end we were fortunate and we got out of there alive."
The abduction ended when Blanco, a well-known tour guide among Israelis, offered herself to the captors in the place of the Israeli backpackers. "We didn't know what had happened to her. She had this smile that says everything is all right," Yakov said, but declined to elaborate.
Galel's sister, Peleg, asked for "a few days of peace" for her brother after the abduction. "He has been through a trauma and he can't talk about it."
She promised that he would talk about what really happened "in the coming days."
Individuals involved in the incident suggested that the backpackers may have known that Blanco had been killed before the news emerged in the media.
Blanco, 47, was from Argentina and had one daughter. Since news of her death emerged, countless Israelis posted photos of themselves posing with her during their trips to Colombia, coupled with profound sorrow at her death. "Thank you, Monica, for an unforgettable trip," one Israeli wrote. "Our hearts are broken. We can't process this. You were reliable, intelligent, and mothering to your backpackers. I remember how you bought us snacks for our trek so it would be fun for us."
Yaakov and Yefet said that they did not know each other before meeting on the way to the marijuana farm that Saturday in the car that transported them there. The trip is considered a usual tourist attraction in the region by Western backpackers.
Since reports surfaced of Blanco's death, the two have managed to escape to safety. The Israeli Embassy in Bogota is aware of the incident and is in contact with the Israelis.
Colombia has reportedly become increasingly hostile to Israeli travelers. They describe difficulties entering the country, outrageous demands by the Colombian authorities and hostile treatment by the local population.
"When we arrived in the airport, they spoke to us rudely when they saw the Israeli passport," said Yarden Navon, an Israeli traveling in South America. "They revoked our entrance visas and didn't explain why. They brought us back to Ecuador, and when we asked the representative from the travel company why it happened, she told us it was because we had an Israeli passport."
"Everything depends on the officials' mood. I came with the necessary documents and they sent me back from Colombia on a flight," said Yonatan Hen. Hen and Navon are only two of many Israeli travelers who were refused entry into the country and who claim they were unfairly treated by Colombian authorities and some locals.
It is unclear whether the former terrorists who abducted Yaakov and Yefet did so because they were Israeli or because they were foreign tourists with likely access to cash, regardless of their origin. Either way, Israeli tourists in Colombia have been asked to keep their eyes open and remain vigilant.
