Robert Young Pelton might be the only “kidnapping” victim in the world who was allowed to take vacation photos with his captors. Does this guy look like a victim of kidnapping or more like an adventurer angling for a story to puff himself up?
Last week, I expressed my suspicion that the self-proclaimed adventurer and Foreign Policy columnist Robert Young Pelton is a fabulist. Pelton’s response was swift and aggressive. He challenged me to put up $1,000 for every accusation I made. He even posted my latest column on his website, mocking the suggestion that he is a fraud. The email responses to my last article have only reinforced my conclusion that his “kidnapping” in Colombia (a key component of his identity, used in nearly all his biographies) never happened.
Mr. Pelton, I gladly accept your $1,000 challenge. Unlike you, I’m not wealthy, and $1,000 is a significant amount for me, but I assure you it will be put to good use.
Let me backtrack. When I received a callback from my source, I asked, “I have a few questions about what happened to Pelton in Colombia; can you help me?” The response: “Sure, go ahead.” While researching for an article on human rights violations in Colombia, I came across the alleged kidnapping of Pelton in January 2003 by the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary terrorist organization. Something was off about Pelton’s story. Different versions, different numbers, and different locations; none of the accounts matched.
While Pelton was busy telling the world he had “walked into a shootout,” his Panamanian jungle guide claimed they were “camping on the riverbank when they were intercepted” by the AUC. One of Pelton’s American travel companions, Mark Wedeven, 22, stated, “We were not kidnapped,” whereas another American traveler, Megan Smaker, also 22, recounted how they were ambushed “at the top of a hill, where five rebels showed up with AK-47s…” It was like a South American version of Rashomon.
In Colombia, Pelton told the man who arranged his safe conduct from the AUC that he hadn’t been kidnapped. However, back in the U.S., he told National Geographic that he was taken by a “right-wing paramilitary group.”
In 2003, he claimed he had “stumbled into the middle of a vague search-and-destroy mission involving 150 men targeting FARC rebels allegedly hiding in Panama.” By 2013, the size of the “search-and-destroy mission” had grown to “175 members of the AUC on their way to invade Panama.” Yet, his Panamanian guide, Víctor Alcázar, stated they were “intercepted by 12 undefined paramilitaries” and then joined by another 60.
One source I contacted mentioned that Pelton’s wife, Linda Pelton, was worried after a few days of not hearing from him. This prompted her to reach out to a few people who might find out what was going on with Pelton. Perhaps she didn’t realize he could have been with a 22-year-old mistress. Here’s how the press reported it:
That’s what Linda Pelton wondered last month when her husband, adventure writer Robert Pelton, and two young hikers ventured into the jungle on the Colombia-Panama border and were captured by a right-wing paramilitary group. She called a friend, who then contacted Brian Jones, a defensive tactics instructor and security consultant in Connecticut, who has organized training events with Smith.
“When someone’s life is at stake, you need to have the best, most qualified person in a specific situation,” Jones said.
Smith can handle distressed individuals, see the big picture, and take charge, he said. “What sets Jamie apart from others I know isn’t about skill; it’s about his ability to step up and take action.”
Smith picked up Jones’s message on January 22, on his way home after a training concert in San Diego. He jumped into action, skipping sleep to arrange things and flew with Byrd to Bogotá, Colombia, the next day.
They met up with a journalist friend of Pelton who arranged for the hostage delivery to a priest. [Note: This journalist would be Steve Salisbury].
“DANGER IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS. BEACH COMPANY FOCUSES ON AVOIDING TROUBLE BUT ALSO GENERATES CLIENTS,” The Virginian-Pilot, February 2, 2003.
Robert Young Pelton, author of The World’s Most Dangerous Places: A Guide to Warzones and host of a Discovery Channel show by the same name, has firsthand experience with SCG. Pelton was kidnapped by a Colombian paramilitary group in January last year while walking through the country investigating an article for National Geographic. Although the group released him after 10 days, they brought Jamie Smith in to locate him and ensure he left the country.
“Security company specialized in kidnapping, rescue, and recovery,” Memphis Business Journal, July 18, 2004.
When I told Pelton that the sources involved in his extraction said he hadn’t been kidnapped, he replied, “I was never extracted.” That contradicts the actions of Pelton’s own wife, as previously noted.
Hang in there, dear reader, it’s about to get very strange. The most common definition of kidnapping is taking someone by force to use as a bargaining chip—like is often the case in Colombia—to obtain a ransom, make political demands, etc. Furthermore, kidnapping generally requires some degree of preparation and planning or a target of some kind. The first source I spoke with stated that Pelton was definitely not kidnapped. The fact that Pelton and his travel companions were handed over days later to a priest, without a scratch, by the group Elmer Cárdenas of the AUC—responsible for the murder, disappearance, and displacement of 11,127 people—leaves little doubt that kidnapping was not the AUC’s intention. The group’s top commander, Elmer Cárdenas of the AUC, Alfredo Berrío (alias El Alemán), said: “the gringos stumbled upon one of our camps, and confusing us with the communist FARC guerrilla, they declared themselves sympathetic to their ideals. As retaliation, we kept them until we tired,” translating to “the gringos entered one of our camps, mistook us for the FARC, and claimed to sympathize with the ideals [of the FARC]. We kept them until we got tired as retaliation.” He should know what happened, right? The top leader of the AUC, Carlos Castaño, also commented on Pelton’s “kidnapping,” saying they were held for their own safety and handed over to the priests. These contradictory statements from terrorists are not conclusive.
Giving Pelton the benefit of the doubt, I emailed the top authority in Colombia at the time, after the AUC and the Colombian government were on the verge of starting peace talks on the very days Pelton got lost in the jungle, and asked if the AUC had used Pelton as a bargaining chip in their demands to the government. The response I received was: “I would never have tolerated the crime you inquired about.” In other words, the Colombian government would never have accepted such a thing. So Pelton wasn’t even mentioned.
I also reached out to journalists and foreign correspondents in Colombia, some of whom had interviewed high-ranking members of the AUC, and they were in an excellent position at that time to know what happened. Pelton’s account didn’t line up with their understanding either. One laughed at the mere suggestion that Pelton was kidnapped.
The next step was to confront Pelton with my suspicions. I must admit I didn’t expect the kind of response I received; in an email, Pelton wrote: “Can we bet, say, $1,000 per accusation so we can make this interesting? As I mentioned, I have video tapes, witnesses, and photos of both events and would love to make some money with any of these.”
Pelton doesn’t seem to take criticism lightly. In a completely unrelated matter, his account of Human Terrain Teams in Afghanistan for Men’s Journal also drew no less unfounded criticism from the U.S. Army. When confronted by a blogger about his article, Pelton wrote:
“Old Blue… Buddy, I already emailed you, but it seems like you can’t respond. I repeat: Do you really want to prove what you’re saying? You have my challenge. So step up and make a name and wallet. I’ll be waiting. I thought I was being quite charitable, so I’m not okay with the hatchet job label. There are many more vocal critics out there, as your comments about falsehoods. As I offered… how much money? Would you stand up if I could prove they’re false? It’s easy to say something, but much harder to show it. My charities are counting on it.
I’m not going to delve into other published accusations of fabrications by Pelton; let’s focus on Colombia. So what do we have here? We have a writer who should be penning fiction posing as a trustworthy source. We also have reputable news outlets, like National Geographic, Men’s Journal, Foreign Policy, etc., who basically take Pelton’s word at face value. What happened to fact-checking? And when someone challenges Pelton, he immediately makes bets. No one takes him up on it.
Pelton recently posted this on his own website:
It turns out I was the first to walk the trail in three years (the guys who did before were kidnapped) and stumbled upon 175 AUC members on their way to invade Panama. I warned the two people to downplay their kidnapping while in the country and describe it as a battlefield detention because the AUC has a wide reach in Colombia and beyond. People were killed, towns were burned. We were under armed surveillance 24/7. Mark collapsed after the event. Meg was fine and did an interview. I flew to Iraq because the war was starting there. Same shit, different attire.
What these fools don’t know is that the State Department essentially took us as hostages and relied on us to bring charges… while we were in the country. Trying to make us cartel kids to go after Carlos and the AUC BEC. The AUC BEC is the oldest and most violent paramilitary group in Colombia. I noted that they wouldn’t be around when a man angry with a chainsaw showed up at my house to alter the evidence. Mark and Meg agreed that this was Colombia’s war and we weren’t going to make a crusade for the State despite being kidnapped.
Robert Young Pelton, “Re: RYP Hype. Fanboys in Colombia,” May 6, 2013.
Even the lone hero was abandoned by his government! Turns out, in this version, not only had the AUC held Pelton hostage in Colombia, but the U.S. State Department contributed with its inaction! Man, that must have been a wild trip. But keep in mind, Pelton claims he was “the first to traverse the trail in three years.”
How is it possible that he knows that? Honestly, how can any editor or fact-checker know that? Did he conduct a survey before starting his journey? What data supports that claim? Isn’t it common knowledge that Darién is basically a highway for drug traffickers, coyotes, and all sorts of South Americans heading north? Furthermore, wasn’t he handed over to a priest in Unguía, near Arquia, where Pelton wanted to go? Does this mean that hundreds of AUC soldiers, Kuna indigenous people, and locals regular use this route? Seems so: Marie Christine Lacoste, reporting from Boca de Cupe, notes that three Kuna Indians were on their way to Arquía (Pelton would have you believe he was the first on that path in three years, remember?) heard someone ordering them to stop, shots were fired, they ran towards Paya (where Pelton and company were coming from), found Pelton and company, warned them about what was happening, and left.
Naturally, Pelton spins the story further: “I warned the two people to minimize their kidnapping while in the country and describe it as a battlefield detention because the AUC has a wide reach in Colombia and beyond.” So Wedeven and Smaker falsely declared they hadn’t been kidnapped solely on Pelton’s advice. The only problem with this is that Pelton himself stated, repeatedly, that he was not kidnapped in Colombia:
Robert Young Pelton, television producer and U.S.-Canadian citizen, claimed that they never felt kidnapped and were treated well. He speculated that the AUC took them to prevent them from witnessing atrocities.
“Colombia’s war turns to the ‘right’; anti-communist forces negotiate with the government,” Washington Times, January 28, 2003.
Pelton also informs the groupies on his forum that the AUC “has a wide reach… beyond the region.” What “reach” is, or was that? Could Pelton point out a single case, “beyond the region,” where the AUC has been involved in any criminal activity? The world’s bravest man seems to be worried that the AUC would show up at his California home with a chainsaw to “manipulate” the evidence…
No, it’s likely Robert Young Pelton is afraid of ending up like Greg Mortenson. A disgraced fabulist who takes his readers on a ride and laughs all the way to the bank.