logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2016
34m 45s

An Extraordinary Meeting Between Two For...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In 2002, the French Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt became perhaps one of the best-known hostages in the world when she was kidnapped and held for over six years, deep in the Colombian jungle, by the Farc or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Watching Ingrid's emotional release on TV in 2008, was a young Canadian journalist called Amanda Lindhout. A month later she herself was taken hostage at gun-point, on a work trip to Somalia. For the 460 days of Amanda's captivity, she thought about Ingrid nearly every day, inspired by the thought that she too could one day end her ordeal.

This is the first time they have spoken to each other.

(Photo: Amanda Lindhout (L). Credit: Steve Carty. (R) Ingrid Betancourt. Credit: Barker Evans)

Up next
Jun 1
The challenges for women in palliative care
Confronting the death of a loved one – or the end of our own life – can be frightening and overwhelming. And yet it is something that will happen to all of us. So how can we open up conversations about the way we want to die? Is it possible to avoid pain and suffering? And who ar ... Show More
26m 29s
May 25
Women saving amphibians from extinction
Datshiane Navanayagam talks to Whitley Fund for Nature winners from India and South Africa who are protecting endangered frogs and salamanders.Dr Barkha Subba is leading the first grassroots protection for the Himalayan Salamander in Darjeeling. The scientific adviser at local NG ... Show More
26m 28s
May 18
Catfishing and its consequences
Online romance fraud and 'catfishing' – when someone pretends to be someone they’re not - is a problem across the globe. It causes financial and emotional devastation, yet many people refuse to take it seriously. Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women from the UK and Sweden wh ... Show More
26m 28s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2025
The Kidnapping Of Patty Hearst (Part 4)
<p>When nineteen-year-old Patty Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in February 1974, everyone assumed the heiress had been abducted for the purposes of ransom. However, in the days that followed, Hearst’s kidnappers, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), made themselves know ... Show More
57m 30s
Sep 2022
2. A priest, a drug lord, and a journalist
At the end of the 1980s, Colombia had become one of the epicenters of drug trafficking in the world. But a change of government in 1990 opened the possibility for peace and the Colombian government began telephone negotiations with Pablo Escobar for his surrender and an end to th ... Show More
18m 40s
Oct 2025
Everyone LOVES This Criminal - The Jan-Erik Olsson Story
Jan-Erik Olsson was a Swedish convict who, on August 23, 1973, attempted to rob the Kreditbanken in Stockholm's Norrmalmstorg Square. During the robbery, he took four bank employees hostage and demanded the release of his former cellmate, Clark Olofsson, who was serving a prison ... Show More
8m 12s
Mar 2025
Argentina's Death Flights
In 1976, a military coup led to an authoritarian regime in Argentina. The military and its new leader, Lieutenant General Jorge Rafaél Videla, then launched a campaign to eradicate political dissidents. Thousands of Argentine citizens were kidnapped, illegally detained, tortured, ... Show More
48m 40s
May 2025
The mystery of the nameless girl found dead in a Spanish border town
On a summer morning in 1990, the body of a young woman appeared in a small town close to the frontier. For those who saw her, finding her identity became an obsession that would last 30 years By Giles Tremlett. Read by Luis Soto. Help support our independent journalism at theguar ... Show More
38m 52s
Jul 2025
The Mom Who Fought a Cartel
Karen Rodríguez was kidnapped and murdered by one of Mexico’s most feared cartels in 2014. Most families would have been forced into silence, but not hers. Refusing to give up, her mum, Miriam Rodríguez, launched her own relentless quest for justice. In a country where cartels op ... Show More
40m 42s
Oct 2025
Grooming gangs, Eve Muirhead, Lily King, Menopause
Two sexual abuse survivors have resigned from their roles on the national inquiry into grooming gangs. Fiona Goddard and Ellie Reynolds both stood down from the victims' liaison panel which was overseeing the process. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in the summer that t ... Show More
54m 14s
Nov 2024
Florence Rey et Audry Maupin : fusillade et baiser d’adieu (4/4)
C'est l’histoire tragique d’un jeune couple qui a défrayé la chronique dans les années 90 : Florence Rey et Audry Maupin. L’histoire de deux étudiants amoureux qui se transforment le temps d’une soirée invraisemblable en Bonnie & Clyde parisiens…  Fusillade et baiser d’adieu “Vol ... Show More
10m 25s
Aug 2024
The story behind a landmark prisoner swap
tail spinning
31m 32s