Colombia's life-saving pop song

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2022

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It is 2010 and Colombian Colonel Jose Espejo has a problem. Not only is the Farc increasing its kidnapping activity, targeting police and military hostages, but many of the soldiers already in captivity - some kept in barbed-wire cages and held isolation in for over a decade - are losing hope of ever being rescued. Colonel Espejo knew that in order for future missions to succeed, he’d need to warn the captives that help was coming so they could be ready to make a break for it when the army arrived. But how do you get a message across to military hostages without tipping off their captors and placing them in even greater danger? The unexpected solution - hide the message in a pop song with an interlude in morse code that the military hostages could decipher.

Transcript

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0:00.0	My Indian Life is back for season 3.
0:02.6	The podcast that explores what it means to be young and Indian in the 21st century.
0:07.2	With guests from all walks of life,
0:09.2	Singing is a part of storytelling for me.
0:11.2	I need to tell my story to the world.
0:12.8	And from all across this huge country.
0:15.1	So as a tribe, we are not mere part of nature,
0:18.5	but we are nature, each with a story to tell.
0:21.3	Winning the gold medal in Paralympics was a dream.
0:24.0	That's Kalki presents My Indian Life from the BBC World Service.
0:27.6	Just search for My Indian Life wherever you found this podcast.
0:33.4	Let's start with a quiz question.
0:36.4	Do you recognise this hit Colombian pop song from the summer of 2010?
0:51.1	Chances are, even if you're Colombian, the answer will be no.
0:54.8	And yet this song, Better Days by Angelo and Natalia Guterrez,
0:58.8	was a big success at the time of its release,
1:01.2	with over 3 million listeners enjoying its catchy chorus
1:04.3	and lyrics of Hope and Longing.
1:11.5	But this is not your average pop song.
1:14.0	And now that the files are declassified,
1:16.0	I can reveal that hidden within Better Days
1:18.4	lies a secret message from the Colombian military,
	...

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