Beyond Bogota: Diary of a Drug War Journalist in Colombia

Independent journalist Garry Leech has spent the last eight years working in the most remote and dangerous regions of Colombia. Unlike other Western reporters most of whom rarely leave Bogotá Leech learns the truth about conflicts and the U.S. war on drugs directly from the source: farmers male and female guerrillas union organizers indigenous communities and many others.. Beyond Bogotá is framed around the eleven hours that Leech was held captive by the FARC Colombias largest leftist guerrilla group in August 2006. Drawing on unprecedented access to soldiers guerrillas paramilitaries and peasants in conflict zones and cocaine-producing areas Leechs documentary memoir is an epic tale of a journalists search for meaning in the midst of violence and poverty. This compelling account provides fresh insights into U.S. foreign policy the role of the media and the plight of everyday Colombians caught in the middle of a brutal war.