The relationship with time changes when you're captive.
I never say no to an ice cream.
More than a victim, I am a survivor of a dehumanization process.
You need tremendous spirituality to stop yourself falling into the abyss.
In a kidnapping, you leave behind a lot of your baggage, like arrogance and stubbornness.
Reconciliation is a decision that you take in your heart.
On one hand, it seems strange that a country that has suffered so much from violence and war would be debating if they want peace or not. But in Colombia, a part of society is deeply connected with the war as a means of making a living.
I didn't want to be a number. I didn't want to be an object.
You are a free woman, and then you become a prisoner, and you receive all kinds of orders. Sit here, stand there. That's it. You just, you don't have the possibility of even moving to take your bag without asking for permission.
I am not irresponsible.
At first, I didn't want to accept that I had been abducted. I kept thinking, 'Next week, I'll be freed.'
These years after my liberation were years of reconstruction, and I think I made the right decisions... I mean, I lost everything: my life; my father died; I didn't know anything about my children.
During my captivity, I felt abandoned by everyone apart from my family and supporters, because there was no part of the political spectrum that would want me released.
Forgiveness is a very personal and intimate thing. Forgiveness is not something that you can speak for others because it includes not only your desire and will, your reflection and intellect, but also your emotions.
In captivity, one loses every way of acting over little details which satisfy the essentials of life. Everything has to be asked for: permission to go to the toilet, permission to ask a guard something, permission to talk to another hostage - to brush your teeth, use toilet paper, everything is a negotiation.
Reconciliation is a national decision that has to be debated and a consensus made among Colombians.
In the jungle, every day is like the other. So you need to have a special discipline to make things different and to keep in your memory the dates and the days. And I think that's something that's very important when you are held hostage.
I continue to aspire to serve Colombia as president.
I don't want to be submerged by depression.
It's not easy to talk about things that are still hurting.
