Main content

Colombia's life-saving pop song

How a message hidden inside a pop song saved the lives of soldiers held captive in the Colombian jungle.

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.

Colombia鈥檚 dense jungle and mountainous terrain mean rescue missions can take months to plan, especially because Farc guerrillas are known to shoot all hostages dead at the first hint of a raid. Colonel Espejo knew that in order for future missions to succeed, he would 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. Soldiers learned Morse code in basic training, and it was unlikely that the Farc, who were not military trained, would know it. This is the tale of Better Days, a pop song with a secret Morse code message that became an actual lifesaver.

(Photo: Jose Espejo and Alfonso Diaz)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Sun 20 Nov 2022 05:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tue 15 Nov 2022 02:32GMT
  • Tue 15 Nov 2022 09:32GMT
  • Tue 15 Nov 2022 20:06GMT
  • Tue 15 Nov 2022 21:06GMT
  • Sun 20 Nov 2022 05:32GMT