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Students by day and hostage negotiators by night

Miles Hargrove needed someone he could trust, who was fluent in Spanish to negotiate with his dad’s Farc kidnappers. So he turned to his old school friend Robert Clerx

In 1994 Robert Clerx was studying in Colombia, when an old school friend, Miles Hargrove asked him for a very large favour. To help him buy back his father. The boys had been friends since Miles and his family had moved to Colombia from America for his dad’s job. Then Miles’ dad was kidnapped by the Farc guerrilla group, who demanded a six million dollar ransom and would only negotiate with family, or a friend. But the family didn’t feel confident that their Spanish was good enough to take on such a delicate and risky task. So they asked for Robert's help. Miles' film about their ordeal is called: Miracle Fishing.

Picture: Miles Hargrove and the team planning his dad's hostage negotiations
Credit: Miles Hargrove

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