Omni Book Publishing

This is the inspiring story of Jairo Alvarez-Botero, a seventy-two year old Colombian immigrant and businessman who is living proof that the American dream is not a myth.

From a potato farm in the small municipality of Sonsón, located in the mountains of Colombia, Jairo rose through the ranks of the Army to live a dream as a member of the elite Presidential Guard. Trained to fight guerrillas in the tropical jungle, Jairo would eventually have to put all of his survival instincts into action.

Jairo wanted to make the Army his life career, but destiny put him on a different course. It was a path that would strip him of his military career, but afforded him the opportunity to save his president's life and avert a coup that would have resulted in the re-establishing of a dictatorship in Colombia. It also forced him to leave the country he loved and come to the United States knowing no English and with just one hundred dollars in his pocket.

Three years later he had learned the language well enough to earn an honors degree from the Albany Business College.