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I believe it was the summer of 2001 that I made a trip to Peru for my work. I was a private contractor doing automation engineering and programming for various companies, including Frito Lay. Frito had purchased a snack food plant near Lima, Peru, and sent me down to oversee the upgrades to the systems and the startup. Peru was still suffering the ills of a recent civil war and I knew it was dicey, but the money was too good to pass up.
It was a long trip to Lima; about 14 hours of airtime plus layovers. When we were finally over Lima, it was fogged in. This was common and it was fairly early in the morning Lima time. The fog typically lifted soon so we circled waiting for the fog to clear. But after three hours, they were still fogged in and the pilot made an announcement that we would have to divert. I had worked something like 36 hours straight before I got on the plane and was sleeping most of the time, so I was only partially aware of the events around me. Before too long we were landing, which woke me up a bit. I remember looking out the window and seeing a burned up plane lying along the runway. Curious, but I assumed it was used for some kind of training. I soon realized this was left over from the war.
We finally slowed and turned toward a small white building with a sign over the entrance that read Águilas Negras - Black Eagles. This was a paramilitary group, no doubt another remnant of the civil war, that eventually became an international terrorist organization. But I didn't know that then. Nor did we know that we just made and unauthorized landing at a military base because were were out of fuel.
We pulled up to the building and stopped. Something between 6-8 soldiers with automatic weapons surrounded the plane. And there we sat for the next 24 hours. No one knew what was going on. For all we knew, they were going to kill us. As the afternoon came along it got very hot on the tarmac. We were out of fuel so we couldn't run the engines or air conditioning. Eventually the toilets were full and it started to stink. We soon ran out of snacks and water. People were growing more and more angry and panicky. At one point I heard a group of men talking about attacking the guys with the guns! Someone spoke up saying they are going to get us all killed. But the next morning we got word that we were going to be leaving. We later learned they had been extorting Delta for some ridiculous amount of money to refuel the plane.
On the up side, because I had worked 36 hours straight before the flight, I slept through most of it.
Twenty-four hours late, I finally arrived in Lima. But it was still a somewhat dangerous trip. I had to use a false name, constantly had an armed escort any time I left the hotel, and we had to take a different route to the factory every day. Being that I was representing Frito Lay (deep pockets), I was a prime target for kidnapping. So it was all very cloak and dagger. And even the plant was something to behold. It was built like a prison. They had double fences and gates, and guards in towers with automatic weapons. The place was more secure than some military facilities I've visited.
I asked the plant manager why the place had to be so secure. He responded "food riots". When people are starving they attack the food plants.
I recently found my long lost photo of the Frito plant entrance.
It was a long trip to Lima; about 14 hours of airtime plus layovers. When we were finally over Lima, it was fogged in. This was common and it was fairly early in the morning Lima time. The fog typically lifted soon so we circled waiting for the fog to clear. But after three hours, they were still fogged in and the pilot made an announcement that we would have to divert. I had worked something like 36 hours straight before I got on the plane and was sleeping most of the time, so I was only partially aware of the events around me. Before too long we were landing, which woke me up a bit. I remember looking out the window and seeing a burned up plane lying along the runway. Curious, but I assumed it was used for some kind of training. I soon realized this was left over from the war.
We finally slowed and turned toward a small white building with a sign over the entrance that read Águilas Negras - Black Eagles. This was a paramilitary group, no doubt another remnant of the civil war, that eventually became an international terrorist organization. But I didn't know that then. Nor did we know that we just made and unauthorized landing at a military base because were were out of fuel.
We pulled up to the building and stopped. Something between 6-8 soldiers with automatic weapons surrounded the plane. And there we sat for the next 24 hours. No one knew what was going on. For all we knew, they were going to kill us. As the afternoon came along it got very hot on the tarmac. We were out of fuel so we couldn't run the engines or air conditioning. Eventually the toilets were full and it started to stink. We soon ran out of snacks and water. People were growing more and more angry and panicky. At one point I heard a group of men talking about attacking the guys with the guns! Someone spoke up saying they are going to get us all killed. But the next morning we got word that we were going to be leaving. We later learned they had been extorting Delta for some ridiculous amount of money to refuel the plane.
On the up side, because I had worked 36 hours straight before the flight, I slept through most of it.
Twenty-four hours late, I finally arrived in Lima. But it was still a somewhat dangerous trip. I had to use a false name, constantly had an armed escort any time I left the hotel, and we had to take a different route to the factory every day. Being that I was representing Frito Lay (deep pockets), I was a prime target for kidnapping. So it was all very cloak and dagger. And even the plant was something to behold. It was built like a prison. They had double fences and gates, and guards in towers with automatic weapons. The place was more secure than some military facilities I've visited.
I asked the plant manager why the place had to be so secure. He responded "food riots". When people are starving they attack the food plants.
I recently found my long lost photo of the Frito plant entrance.
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