Programming News
Discovery Channel Achieves All-Time Ratings Record in Latin America with Original Production FUGA DE LAS FARC
FUGA DE LAS FARC, a Discovery Channel Latin America original production that premiered Sunday, October 19, landed a record 5.13 rating among P25-54 in Colombia, the highest ratings result of any Discovery Channel program ever in any Latin American market. In addition, FUGA DE LAS FARC bested all cable networks in Colombia that evening.
Of the 2,000 kidnapping victims under control of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), only a few have managed to escape captivity with their lives intact. The young Colombian policeman Jhon Frank Pinchao, whose contribution was central to the planning and eventual rescue of Ingrid Betancourt (a well-known and respected Colombian political figure), is one of these brave souls. After nine long years in captivity and despite having all the odds stacked against him, Pinchao made a run for his life.
To gain his freedom, and because he did not know how to swim, Pinchao fashioned a floating device from an enormous plastic water bottle that he then tied to his body. Setting his fears aside, he entered a raging river and allowed the currents to carry him away. Malnourished, severely dehydrated and practically without any sustenance, Pinchao managed to survive 17 days in the Amazon and emerge alive from his ordeal to share his incredible story with the world.
The one-hour FUGA DE LAS FARC recounts his amazing story of survival. The detailed narrative about Pinchao's escape from the jungle and his captors incorporates astonishing testimonials from key players including Jhon Pinchao himself, as well as interviews with Colombian Senator and former FARC captive Luís Eladio Pérez; the Director of the Colombian Police Force, General Óscar Naranjo; the ex-guerilla fighter "Camilo"; and Doctor Henry Mendoza, who treated Pinchao after his escape and harrowing ordeal.
FUGA DE LAS FARC was produced by WYFTV Colombia, under the direction of DNLA/USH's Michela Giorelli and Rafael Rodriguez.