XLIV

Reencounter with Former President Andrés Pastrana Arango

A guard’s call broke the routine and the gray cold of his cell. The man was carrying a piece of paper so that Popeye could authorize the entrance of a certain Dr. Camilo Gómez into the prison. The name sounded familiar, but without giving it further thought he signed the authorization letter.

An hour later he was taken to a cubical for interviews and found himself in front of the former Peace Commissioner Camilo Gómez. He greeted him in a friendly way and they chatted about ordinary things for a few minutes. It was easy to recognize his visitor. Under Andrés Pastrana’s government, he had led the failed peace process with the FARC and had been highly visible in the media.

The man abruptly changed the subject and revealed the reason for his visit, “Popeye, President Pastrana wants to come and see you. He wants to talk about his kidnapping!”

Without thinking twice he answered him, “No problem at all doctor. I would be glad to receive the president!”

They spoke for a few more minutes about trivial matters and then he said goodbye. When he returned to his yard, Popeye was pensive. It was curious to him that a former president of Colombia would want to speak with him, especially since he was the hitman who kidnapped him, following Pablo Escobar’s orders, in 1988 when Pastrana was a candidate to be mayor of Bogota.

Days passed, as did weeks, and months and the president never appeared. He began to think he wasn’t going to visit him in Cómbita. He had been pleased by the news of the eventual reencounter and the idea of seeing the man again in different circumstances appealed to him. He analyzed the proposal and came to the conclusion that Pastrana lost interest in speaking to him, or perhaps he didn’t have any more hard feelings about the kidnapping. He said to himself, “I remember I treated him with respect!”

His life moved forward until one day, when he least expected it, a guard anxiously came to his yard saying, “Popeye, Doctors Andrés Pastrana and Camilo Gómez need you!”

He went straight to his cell and changed his clothes to receive two such distinguished visitors. The arrival of these men was an event for the prison. The guards surrounded them, looking at them with respect and admiration, reminding him that his government had built the prison in Cómbita.

Popeye was taken to an appropriate place for the interview. The two men entered and found themselves face to face with Popeye. They looked at each other for several seconds and then Andrés Pastrana extended his hand with sincerity, examining him closely. Both men now had a lot of gray hair. When Popeye kidnapped him, he’d been a young candidate running for mayor of Bogota and Popeye, an enthusiastic member of the Medellin cartel, no more than twenty-six years old. Now, after taking a seat, he felt very comfortable in his presence. He was amiable and open during the visit, trying to soften the evident tension they all felt.

Andrés Pastrana started the conversation bringing up the kidnapping. He had all the details of that moment very clear in his mind. Popeye thought that, despite his importance and stature, the fact that his kidnapper had thrown him into the trunk of a car in which they escaped hadn’t traumatized him. In good humor, he recounted the day they went into the political headquarters of his campaign as mayor of Bogota and Popeye entered along with other hitmen from the Medellin cartel to kidnap him on Pablo Escobar’s orders, Pastrana was with comedian Jaime Garzón, who when the moment came, threw himself on the ground and grabbed one of his legs yelling like a crazy person, “Don’t take him, take me too!”

One of Popeye’s men kicked him and they left him behind, taking only the hostage.

The two laughed, remembering that episode. He showed he remembered everything they talked about in detail and what had happened that night when the Medellin cartel commandos took him. He explained that his family had a farm in Sopó, Cundinamarca, the same town where the kidnappers took him. He remembered Popeye gave the order to the hitman in the trunk of the car along with Andrés Pastrana telling him not to let the hostage make any noise. Popeye managed to elude the military checkpoint and had to make sure Pastrana didn’t attract the authorities’ attention.

This is how they began their encounter, until Pastrana began asking him everything he could to clear up details about his kidnapping.

“Popeye, tell me the names of the pilots of the helicopter that picked me up!”

“I don’t know. They’re called Los Magníficos (The Magnificent). In the mafia nobody asks for names. All I know is that the helicopter belonged to drug trafficker Jorge Luis Ochoa!”

He seemed to be a bit annoyed by the response and the little light Popeye had been able to shed on the pilots, showing he didn’t believe him. Still their conversation proceeded and grew even more animated.

Before becoming President of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana was a well-known television personality on his family’s news channel. He was also a recognized journalist and he showed it to Popeye as the visit turned in reality into an interview. Questions came and went. It seemed like the kidnapping was just yesterday, judging by the prodigious memory of the man who remembered every detail.

He made it clear that his main concern that day wasn’t his candidacy as the mayor of Bogota, but his family, and he grew very worried when he heard Popeye say that if the helicopter didn’t arrive, they’d go by land. He asked him if they burned everything in the house to cover their tracks.

“No, doctor, that was to make a fire so that the pilots of the helicopter that were going to pick us up would see it, like a signal that everything was ok!”

Pastrana remembered the moment when he told him that if they had an encounter with a police helicopter, he would talk to them to avoid a fatal outcome and Popeye had answered, “No doctor, the one in control here is me!”

The hours passed between loose questions and sure answers about everything surrounding the kidnapping, until they finally said goodbye with a very courteous handshake and Popeye was returned to his cell. Someone said to him, “Listen, Popeye, what an important visit! Right? It’s like when Pope John Paul II went to prison to visit Ali Ağca, the man who tried to assassinate him. No?”

Popeye looked at him with appreciation and smiled, feeling important for the first time in his life.

When the guard turned off the light in his cell, he reflected on the encounter. He was content. For him it was good to ask the former president for forgiveness for having kidnapped him. That night he felt like he was shunning the bad actions of the past. It was good for him to recognize his mistakes.

“Life is a curious thing! Yesterday I kidnapped Dr. Andrés Pastrana and today I’m serving my sentence in his prison. Incredible, hahaha!”

He wrapped himself up in his blankets and fell asleep with one less weight on his soul. Meanwhile Andrés Pastrana continued tying the loose ends of his kidnapping together. Days later he requested another interview with Popeye, certainly to chase away the ghosts of the past.

General Miguel Alfredo Maza Márquez, DAS Commander from 1985 to 1991.