Diana Turbay:-PART4
Breathing deeply, Azucena lowered her head. "No, I'm going alone." Azucena started crying.
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Even though she felt as if she'd been stabbed in the heart, Diana mustered the courage to say, "I'm so happy for you. Don't worry. I knew it would be this way." She gave Azucena a letter for her mother, asking Nydia to celebrate Christmas with Diana's children. Diana hugged Azucena. They walked to the car and hugged again. Azucena got inside. Diana waved.
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On the way to the airport, Azucena heard her husband on a radio broadcast. Asked what he'd been doing when he found out that she was going to be released, he said he'd been writing a poem to her. On December 16, they celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary together.
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On December 17, Diana's cameraman, Orlando, was in a room he'd recently been moved to. Ruminating on the cause of the fresh blood stains on the mattress - either a stabbing or torture - was making him feel ill.
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His door opened. In walked don Pacho, the boss in charge of Diana's house. "Put clothes on. You're leaving now."
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With hardly any time to dress, convinced he was going to be killed, he was given a statement for the media and his eyes were covered. Don Pacho drove him through Medellín, gave him 5,000 pesos for a taxi and dropped him off at 9 am. Unable to hail a taxi. he called his wife. "Slim, it's me."
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At first, she didn't recognise his voice. "Oh my God!"
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During Orlando's captivity, they'd decided to have a second child when they were reunited. After a couple of nights of being around too many people wanting to speak to Orlando, they got lucky right away.
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Diana kept abreast of the news via TV, radio and newspapers, but missed the enjoyment of discussing it with Azucena. In her diary, she wrote "I don't want and it isn't easy to describe what I feel at each moment: the pain, the anguish, the terrifying days I've experienced." Increasingly, she mulled over dying in a rescue attempt, while hoping her release would be "pretty soon, now."
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Don Pacho stopped having long conversations with Diana and bringing her newspapers. Having requested to meet Pablo, she rehearsed what she would say to him, convinced she'd be able to get him to negotiate. Hearing her mother on TV or radio gave her hope. "I have always felt she was my guardian angel." She was convinced that her mother's determination would result in a Christmas release.
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On Christmas Eve, a party at the house holding Diana included barbecued meat, alcohol, salsa music, coloured lights and fireworks. Assuming it WaS her leaving celebration, she expected to be told to pack her belongings. On Christmas Day, the guards gave her a lined leather jacket, which she believed was to keep her warm in the cold weather during her imminent freedom. She envisioned her mother getting supper ready and a wreath of mistletoe at home with a welcome message for her. But watching all of the holiday lights getting turned off crushed her hope.
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The next day, her family appeared on a Christmas TV show, including her two children - who had grown in her absence - and brothers and sisters. Even though the family hadn't been in a celebratory mood, it had been arranged due to her letter delivered by Azucena. Nydia, too, had anticipated Diana's release that day.
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Diana wrote, "I confess my sorrow at not being there, not sharing the day with all of them…. But it cheered me so. I felt very close to everyone, it made me happy to see them all together."
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As usual, her thoughts shifted to her situation. Why wasn't the government more actively pursuing the surrender of the Extraditable's if it had satisfied their requests? "As long as that is not demanded of them, they will feel more comfortable about taking their time, knowing they have in their power the most important weapon [the hostages] for exerting pressure on the government." She compared the negotiations to a game of chess. "But which piece am I? I can't help thinking we're all dispensable." She'd lost faith in the Notables: "They'd started out with an eminently humanitarian mission and ended up doing a favour for the Extraditables."
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Since Christmas, Diana had been housed with another hostage, Richard. Their nocturnal existence consisted of listening to the radio and talking.
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In January, a guard burst into the room of a hostage. "It's all fucked up! They're going to kill hostages!" Due to the murder of the Priscos - a group close to Pablo - by the authorities, Pablo had decided to kill a hostage every three days.
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Diana overheard the guards discussing the death of the Priscos. One was crying.
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"And what do we do now with the merchandise [hostages]?" a guard said.
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"We'll get rid of it."
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The words instilled Diana with so much fear that she couldn't sleep. She was told that they would soon be changing houses.
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The first on the kill list was Marina Montoya, who'd been missing for half a year and was presumed dead. Her brother had been the president's secretary general, and had endured the kidnapping of his own son, who was released, only to be followed by the kidnap ping of his sister nine months later. Once a stately figure, old Marina had withered from illness and worry. She'd charmed some of the guards who treated her as a grandmother figure.
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On January 23, 1991, a guard called the Monk entered the room where Marina was watching TV with two younger female hostages. "We came to take Granny to another house."
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Marina was in bed, cold and pale, her white hair a mess.
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"Get your things together, Granny. You have five minutes."
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He stooped to help her up. Her mouth opened but emitted no sound. She stood, grabbed her bag and floated towards the bathroom like a ghost.
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While she was in there, a hostage said, "Are you going to kill her?"
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"You can't ask anything like that! I told you: she is going to a better house. I swear."
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After the two hostages asked to speak to a boss, another guard arrived and confiscated the TV and radio, which the hostages viewed as a bad omen for Marina. The guards said they'd collect Marina in five minutes.
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Taking her time, Marina emerged in a pink sweat-suit, men's socks and her original shoes, mildewed and too large for her shrunken feet. Under the sweat-suit, she wore a scapula with a plastic cross. "Who knows, maybe they're going to release me."
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"Of course they are."
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"That's right. How wonderful!"
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Marina asked if they had messages for their families. She put some aftershave behind her ear and rearranged her majestic hair with no mirror. Sat on the bed, she smoked slowly as if resigned to her fate.
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"If you have a chance to see my husband and children," a hostage said to prevent herself from crying, "tell them I'm well and love them very much."
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"Don't ask me to do that," Marina said, gazing into space. "I know I'll never have the chance."
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The two women gave Marina water and powerful sedatives, but she was unable to hold the glass with her shaking hands. One of the women held the glass, so Marina could swallow the sedatives. They gave her a pink wool hood. They hugged and kissed and said goodbye.
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