Our Guerrillas Our Sidewalks Summary

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Have you ever wonder how it would feel to have someone dear to you kidnapped? In the novel Our Guerrillas Our Sidewalks, written by Herbert Braun, we come across a true-life kidnapping experience; that is based on Herbert Braun and his family. In the first chapter “Taking” we first get introduced to Tico (Herbert Braun), Cecilia (Tico’s wife), Jake Gambini (Ticos brother and law), Ulla (Jake's wife/Ticos sister), and Vicente (Jakes employee). Tico lives in Charlottesville, VA and was born in Colombia; his parents come from Germany. Tico is a college professor, he is very sophisticated and an intelligent man; as the book progresses we come to know Tico very well. Jake is a man that attracts attention without begging for it; he is also a problem …show more content…

Tico is historian so he starts to take notes of everything, for him it like an automatic sensation. Ulla wanted to get some experts to help, so she hired someone that was recommended by a friend. Jake’s first couple days where hard, he was angry with himself for putting himself in this situation and his family. Once he was under their capture he started to see that they were well organized, and well-armed with guns. He was extremely cautious with everything they gave him to eat and drink. The first camp they brought him to was small and cramped. Jake was later taken to a second camp that was much larger and cleaner. Tico kept wondering which organization took Jake, ELN, FARC, or the EPL. Ticos spent most of his time by the phone waiting for something to occur. As nothing has occurred Tico returns to Charlottesville on July …show more content…

Jake has been kidnapped for over 20 days now and the guerrilla group has already moved him to third camp. By this time Jake has already became friendly with some of the people at the camp. The guerrillas that had Jake did not want to hurt him they just wanted the money. The actually treated him very well and got him any accommodations in which he requested. Jake could request anything but he choose not to, he wanted to stay sharp, and did not want to develop that kind of bond with them. Tico could not take it anymore; he took a flight to Bogota in hope of hearing something. Ticos arrives in Bogota and goes to Jake’s office where he meets with Jake’s employees Vicente, Cesar and Jimmy. Once In Bogota he sees much of Bogota has changed for the good, and for the bad. He sees the wealth that Bogota has incurred and all the wealthy people, but he also see the narcos that have also rising since he last

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