RICHARDSON, Texas, March 19, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- A business venture goes horribly wrong and an American finds himself captured and jailed in Brazil. A Time for Vultures (now available through 1stBooks Library) recounts the harrowing and dangerous journey of one man, Joe Truhill. From civilian to entrepreneur, from businessman to captive, Truhill finds himself an unlikely and unwilling pawn in a Brazilian power struggle.
Trouble begins when Truhill signs a contract with the Ralph Dial company to airlift tantalite ore from Brazil to Fan Steel Corporation in Muskogee, Okla. Just as their joint business venture gets underway, a tide of political unrest sweeps over the Brazilian countryside.
Truhill understands the importance of paying attention to local authorities, but still finds himself in the middle of a turf war where the land in question is under the jurisdiction of General Riograndino Kruel, the head of the federal police, the Districto Federal Seguaranca Publica. Using Truhill's status as an American, the government quickly makes him an example of trade leaving the country.
Thrown in jail, Truhill spends several months in Brazil engineering various escape attempts, no matter how dangerous. When his wife comes to visit him, he sends her home with plans for a flying escape attempt. A friend, he says, will pose as a tourist, fly an airplane to Brazil, and take Truhill away. Their flight plan will cover 7,000 miles, including flying over the 20,000 foot peaks of the Andes Mountains in a plane equipped only to handle altitudes of 18,000 feet. They will have to cross 10 foreign countries, stop and refuel in seven of them and convince local authorities that they are tourists with only one passport.
An amazing journey, Vultures is a story of determination to regain freedom. The story is an account of Latin American justice under the leaves of a political jungle blown by a whirlwind of all too familiar Anti-Americanism.
Truhill was introduced to aviation as a teenager. In the "backwoods town" of Hurley, N.M. in 1937, he and 14 other teens formed a flying club with a two seat trainer. At the end of six months only five continued and taught themselves to fly. Truhill went on to teach Air Force pilots for nine years and then fly military freight throughout the United States. Eventually, he went into business for himself. His company, Air Services, Inc., used a fleet of large transports that were contracted out to various corporations for special flying assignments. He currently lives in Richardson, Texas. This is his first book.
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