Íngrid Betancourt
Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio (born 25 December 1961) is a French-Colombian politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist.
Betancourt was kidnapped by
the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (
FARC) on 23 February 2002 and was rescued by Colombian security forces six and a half years later on 2 July 2008. The rescue operation, dubbed Operation Jaque, rescued Betancourt along with 14 other hostages (three Americans and eleven Colombian policemen and soldiers). In all, she was held captive for 2,321 days after being taken while campaigning for the Colombian presidency as a
Green. She had decided to campaign in rebel controlled areas despite warnings from the government, police and military not to do so. Her kidnapping received worldwide coverage, particularly in
France, because of her
dual French-Colombian citizenship.
She has received multiple international awards, such as
the Légion d'honneur. In 2008 she received the
Concord Prince of Asturias Award. Nonetheless, recent books by fellow hostages
Clara Rojas and
Marc Gonsalves,
Keith Stansell, and
Thomas Howes paint a picture of a more complex and less heroic person, who sought and obtained privileges because of her status as a well-known political hostage.
BiographyBetancourt was born in
Bogotá,
Colombia. Her mother,
Yolanda Pulecio, is a former beauty queen who later served in Congress representing poor southern neighborhoods of
Bogotá. Her father,
Gabriel Betancourt, was minister for the General
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla dictatorship (1953–1957), the assistant director of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, then ambassador of
Colombia to
UNESCO in
Paris, and head of the education commission of
the Alliance for Progress in Washington, D.C. under
John F. Kennedy. The
Betancourt family is one of Colombia's oldest oligarchic families, descended from French Norman immigrants who arrived from
Grainville-la-Teinturière three centuries before.
After attending private school in
France, a boarding school in
England as well as the
Liceo Francés in
Bogotá,
Betancourt attended
the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (commonly known as
Sciences Po).
After graduating,
Betancourt married fellow student
Fabrice Delloye in 1983, and they had two children,
Mélanie (born 1985) and
Lorenzo (born 1988).
Through her marriage she became a French citizen. Her husband served in the French diplomatic corps, and the couple lived in multiple countries, including
New Zealand and the
Seychelles. During the 1980s, she briefly lived in
Quito,
Ecuador, where she worked as a physical fitness instructor.
In the mid 1990s,
Betancourt and
Delloye divorced, and she married Colombian advertising executive,
Juan Carlos Lecompte in 1997. After her 2008 rescue, Lecompte said their marriage may be over.
Her children
Melanie and
Lorenzo moved to
New Zealand to live with their father due to death threats stemming from her political activities. They were 16 and 13 when she was kidnapped in 2002.
Political careerIn 1989,
Luis Carlos Galán, a candidate for the Colombian presidency running on an anti-drug-trafficking platform, was assassinated.
Betancourt's mother was a supporter of
Galán and was standing immediately behind him when he was shot; this event motivated
Betancourt to return to
Colombia herself in 1989. From 1990 onwards, she worked at the Ministry of Finance, from which she later resigned to enter politics. Her first campaign distributed condoms, with the motto that she would be like a condom against corruption.
The south of Bogotá supported her, thanks partially to the name recognition from her mother, who helped her campaign.
Election to the Chamber of Representatives, 1994She was elected to the Chamber of Representatives in 1994 and launched a political party, the Green Oxygen Party. During her term, she criticized the administration of President Ernesto Samper, who was accused of corruption in the 8000 Process scandal after accepting money from the Cali drug cartel for his electoral campaign.
Elected Senator of Colombia, 1998Betancourt ran for Senator in the 1998 election, and the total number of votes she received was the largest number of any candidate in that year's senate election. During her time in elected office, death threats caused her to send her children from her first marriage to
New Zealand, where they could live with her ex-husband.
That same year, the presidential election was ultimately won by
Andrés Pastrana. Pastrana persuaded her to endorse him, and she campaigned on his behalf. She claims he later reneged on the promises he made to her when she agreed to do so.
Presidential candidate, 2002Íngrid Betancourt launched her presidential campaign on May 20, 2001 next to a statue of
Simón Bolívar in
Bogotá. She then began a campaign bus trip around the country to attend local community meetings.
As part of her campaign for the presidency in 2002 Betancourt decided to go to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in the town of San Vicente del Caguán to meet with the FARC. This was very unusual as she decided to do so after the peace process had ended— many public figures (including Betancourt) took the opportunity afforded by the DMZ to meet with the FARC as part of the negotiation process before the process ended. At the time she decided to go, the Colombian Army informed her that they would be unable to provide her with protection, due to hostility in the area after the peace process had ended and the DMZ was being re- militarized. Nonetheless,
Betancourt was determined to go, as she believed that she will not be held captive by the
Farc, as she had taken part in the negotiations in the DMZ and had met many of the F
arc leaders, so she signed a document agreeing to take personal responsibility for her travels; Betancourt later denied that she signed any such document. The election was eventually won by
Álvaro Uribe, who never attended such meetings.
The peace talks reached an impasse after more than three years of negotiations. From the beginning, the
FARC would not agree to a truce for the duration of the negotiations, nor that the peace talks be overseen by different representatives of the international community. Though the DMZ was purported to be a "
laboratory for peace", in practice the
FARC continued its kidnapping activities, military attacks, purchasing of weapons, and even building roads and airstrips for trafficking narcotics. Critics considered the DMZ to have been turned into a safe haven in which the
FARC imposed its will as law launching military attacks and acts of terrorism outside the DMZ before withdrawing back to it, in order to avoid direct confrontation with government armed forces. Also during this time, hundreds of civilians were kidnapped throughout different cities and rural areas of the country. They were then transported back to the DMZ where they were kept in cages, many of them having been kidnapped for economic extortion, others for "
political reasons". By the end of 2001 the Colombian government and public opinion (according to different polls) were growing impatient and discouraged at the situation.
In February 2002, a turboprop plane flying from
Florencia to
Bogotá—a distance of some 1000 km (600 miles)—was hijacked in midair by
FARC members. The plane was forced to land on a highway strip near the city of Neiva and then a member of the Colombian Congress was kidnapped. As a consequence, President Andrés Pastrana canceled the talks with the
FARC and revoked the DMZ, arguing that the
FARC had betrayed the terms of the negotiation and had used the DMZ to grow stronger in military and logistical capabilities. In a televised statement, the president expressed the government's intention of retaking the DMZ, informing that the military operation would begin at midnight, and also urged the
FARC to respect the lives and the livelihood of those civilians still present in the DMZ.
AutobiographyAfter being rebuffed by Colombian publishers,
Betancourt published her memoirs in French in March 2001 under the title La rage au cœur, successfully avoiding a legal challenge brought by former Colombian President
Ernesto Samper. The memoir generated intense media coverage in France, where it was the number one best seller for four weeks and a best seller for another nine. It has since appeared in Spanish as La rabia en el corazón, and in English as
Until Death Do Us Part: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia (2002).
KidnappingMost candidates for political office who had intended to visit the former DMZ backed off when authorities warned them of the danger.
Ingrid Betancourt, however, insisted on being taken to the former DMZ by a military aircraft. President
Pastrana and other officials turned down this petition, arguing that neither they, nor the Colombian Army, could guarantee her safety during the turmoil that would follow the retaking of the DMZ. Additionally,
Betancourt was running for president in the 2002 elections; aiding her in such a request, according to the government, meant it was rendering its resources to
Betancourt's private political interests.
When denied transport aboard this military helicopter that was heading to the zone, she decided to head into the DMZ via ground transport, together with Clara Rojas, her campaign manager who was later named running-mate for the 2002 election, and a handful of political aides. On 23 February 2002, she was stopped at the last military checkpoint before going into the former DMZ. Military officers insisted that
Betancourt and her party not continue in their effort to reach San Vicente del Caguan, the village used for the peace talks. San Vicente's mayor was the only Oxigeno elected official in the entire country by then. Intense fighting was taking place inside the DMZ and the security situation was rapidly deteriorating. Betancourt dismissed their warnings and she continued her journey.[citation needed] According to her kidnapper, the later captured
Nolberto Uni Vega,
Betancourt ended up at a
FARC checkpoint where she was kidnapped. Her kidnap was never planned beforehand, said the rebel.
Ingrid still appeared on the ballot for the presidential elections; her husband promised to continue her campaign. In the end, she achieved less than 1% of the votes.
Betancourt stated in an
NPR interview that the government did offer to fly her, but later reneged and took away her flight, and then took away her bodyguards. She also stated she was never warned that it would be dangerous to travel by road, that checkpoints let her though with no warning nor attempt to stop her, and that the government seemed to suggest she travel by road.
Uribe's initial policyEver since the days of the Pastrana negotiations, when a limited exchange took place, the
FARC have demanded the formalization of a mechanism for prisoner exchange. The mechanism would involve the release of what the
FARC terms as its "
political hostages", currently numbering 23, in exchange for most jailed guerrillas, numbering about 500. For the
FARC, most of its other hostages, those held for extortion purposes and which would number at least a thousand, would not be considered subject to such an exchange.
The newly elected
Uribe administration initially ruled out any negotiation with the group that would not include a ceasefire, and instead pushed for rescue operations, many of which have traditionally been successful when carried out by the police's
GAULA anti-kidnapping group in urban settings, but not in the mountains and jungles where the
FARC keeps most prisoners, according to official statistics and mainstream news reports.
Relatives of Ingrid and of most of
FARC's political hostages came to strongly reject any potential rescue operations, especially after the death of the governor of the Antioquia department, Guillermo Gaviria, his peace advisor and several soldiers, kidnapped by the
FARC during a peace march in 2003. The governor and the others were shot at close range by the
FARC when the government launched an army rescue mission into the jungle which failed as the guerrillas learned of its presence in the area.[citation needed]
Negotiations2002A day after
Betancourt's kidnapping several non-governmental organizations (NGO) under the lead of
Armand Burguet were organized in the European Union and around the world to establish an association or committee for the liberation of
Íngrid Betancourt. The committee initially consisted of some 280 activists in 39 countries.
One month after her kidnapping, her father Gabriel died of heart and respiratory trouble.
2003In July 2003 Opération 14 juillet was launched, which both failed to liberate Betancourt and caused a scandal for the French government. A video of
Betancourt was released by
FARC in August 2003.
2004In August 2004, after several false-starts and in the face of mounting pressure from relatives, former Liberal presidents
Alfonso López Michelsen and
Ernesto Samper (whom
Ingrid had criticized) came out in favor of a humanitarian exchange. The Uribe government, seeming to have gradually relaxed its position, announced that it had given the
FARC a formal proposal on 23 July, in which it offered to free 50 to 60 jailed rebels in exchange for the political and military hostages held by the
FARC group (not including economic hostages, as the government had earlier demanded).
The government would make the first move, releasing insurgents charged or condemned for rebellion and either allowing them to leave the country or to stay and join the state's reinsertion program. Then the
FARC would release the hostages in its possession, including Íngrid Betancourt. The proposal would have been carried out with the backing and support of the French and Swiss governments, who publicly supported it once it was revealed.
The move was signaled as potentially positive by several relatives of the victims and Colombian political figures. Some critics of the president have considered that Uribe may seek to gain political prestige from such a move, though they would agree with the project in practice.
The
FARC released a communiqué dated 20 August (but apparently published publicly only on 22 August) in which they denied having received the proposal earlier through the mediation of
Switzerland as the government had stated. While making note of the fact that a proposal had been made by the Uribe administration and that it hoped that common ground could eventually be reached, the
FARC criticized the offer because they believe that any deal should allow them to decide how many of its jailed comrades would be freed and that they should be allowed to return to the rebel ranks.
On 5 September, what has been considered as a sort of
FARC counter proposal was revealed in the Colombian press. The
FARC proposed that the government declare a "
security" or "guarantee" zone for 72 hours in order for official insurgent and state negotiators to meet face to face and directly discuss a prisoner exchange. Government military forces would not have to leave the area but to concentrate in their available garrisons, in a similar move to that agreed by the
Ernesto Samper administration (1994–1998) which involved the group freeing some captured security forces. In addition, the government's peace commissioner would have to make an official public pronouncement regarding this proposal.
If the zone were created, the first day would be used for traveling to the chosen location, the second to discuss the matter, and the third for the guerrillas to abandon the area. The government would be able to chose the location for the "
security zone" from among one of the municipalities of Peñas Coloradas, El Rosal or La Tuna, all in Caquetá department, where the
FARC had influence. It was speculated by retired military analysts[who?] that the
FARC could potentially set up land mines or other traps around local military garrisons while the zone is in place.
The
FARC proposal to arrange a meeting with the government was considered as positive by
Yolanda Pulecio, Íngrid's mother, who called it a sign of "
progress […] just as the (government) commissioner can meet with (right-wing) paramilitaries, why can't he meet with the others, who are just as terrorist as they are."
2006In February 2006,
France urged the
FARC to seize the chance offered by a European-proposed prisoner swap, accepted by Bogotá, and free dozens it had held for up to seven years. Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said it was "
up to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to show they were serious about releasing former Colombian presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt and other detainees."
In an interview with French newspaper
L'Humanité in June 2006,
Raul Reyes, a leader of the
FARC, said that
Betancourt "
is doing well, within the environment she finds herself in. It's not easy when one is deprived of freedom."
2007In May 2007, a captured Colombian National Police sub-intendant J
hon Frank Pinchao managed to escape from
FARC captivity, claiming that Betancourt was being held in the same prison camp he had been in. He also reported seeing Clara Rojas, who had given birth to a son (Emmanuel), while in captivity.[citation needed]
On 18 May, President
Álvaro Uribe reiterated his orders for the rescue by military means of Íngrid and other political figures. This happened after he interviewed a police officer captured by the
FARC who ran away and told his story saying many of the prisoners were sick.
Shortly after taking office in mid-May, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy asked
Uribe to release
FARC's "
chancellor"
Rodrigo Granda in exchange for
Betancourt.
On 4 June, 30 incarcerated members from the
FARC were liberated as a goodwill gesture by the government to pursue the liberation of Betancourt and others. However this did not result in her freedom.
On 26 July 2007
Melanie Delloye,
Betancourt's daughter, reported two French diplomats had been unsuccessful in confirming that she was still alive according to news agency
EFE. President
Sarkozy affirmed this to the press. However former hostage
Jhon Frank Pinchao repeated that
Betancourt was alive, and had attempted to escape several times from the
FARC camp where both were held, but had been recaptured and "severely punished".
In August 2007, reporter
Patricia Poleo, a Venezuelan national exiled in the United States, stated that
Betancourt was being held in
Venezuela and that her release was near. The government of
Colombia expressed doubts about this information through its minister of foreign affairs Fernando Araújo.
Poleo also criticized
Hugo Chávez for using this situation to improve relations with
France after an impasse with the government of
Jacques Chirac in which they refused to sell arms to Venezuela. A few days after
Poleo's statements, President
Chávez openly offered his services to negotiate between the
FARC and the government in an effort to release those kidnapped, but denied knowing about the whereabouts of
Betancourt.
On 11 November 2007,
Chávez told French newspaper
Le Figaro that he hoped to be able to show
Sarkozy proof before their meeting on 20 November that
Betancourt was alive, while on 18 November
Chávez announced to the French press that he had been told by a
FARC leader that she was still alive.
On 30 November, the Colombian government released information that they had captured three members of the urban cells of the
FARC in Bogotá who had with them videos and letters of people held hostage by the
FARC, including
Betancourt. In the video Betancourt appears in the jungle sitting on a bench looking at the ground. She "
appeared extremely gaunt". A letter intended for
Íngrid's mother,
Yolanda, which was found at the same time, was also published in several newspapers.
2008In 2008,
Chávez, with the initial permission of the Colombian government and the participation of
the International Red Cross, organized humanitarian operations in order to receive several civilian hostages whose release had been announced by FARC. The first, so-called Operation Emmanuel, named in honor of Clara Rojas' son, initially failed but later led to the release of
Clara Rojas and
Consuelo González. Emmanuel was freed previously after a stunning declaration from president Uribe, where it was discovered the infant was left in a foster home after being severely mistreated by the guerrillas.
On 27 February a second operation was carried out, freeing four former members of the Colombian Congress. The released hostages were very concerned about the health of Betancourt. One described her as "
exhausted physically and in her morale. […] Íngrid is mistreated very badly, they have vented their anger on her, they have her chained up in inhumane conditions." Another said that she has Hepatitis B and is "
near the end".
Nicolas Sarkozy said he is prepared to personally go to accept her release if necessary.
Ingrid Betancourt in FARC captivityOn 27 March, the Colombian government, with Uribe's support, offered to free hundreds of guerrilla fighters in exchange for Betancourt's release.
On 31 March, Colombian news station
Caracol quoted several sources saying Betancourt has stopped taking her medication and stopped eating. She was said to be in desperate need of a blood transfusion.
On 2 April,
Betancourt's son,
Lorenzo Delloye, addressed the
FARC and the President
Uribe, to facilitate her release in order to prevent her death. He quoted the need for a blood transfusion in order to keep her alive saying that otherwise she may die in the next few hours.
On 3 April, an envoy left for
Colombia to try to make contact with
Betancourt and many of the other captives, who have become ill after years of captivity in the jungle. After two days, the envoy, including a doctor, still hadn't heard from the
FARC, but received orders from the French government to wait. Five days after arrival of the envoy the
FARC released a press note on the Bolivarian Press Agency website, refusing the mission access to their hostages, because "
the French medical mission was not appropriate and, moreover, was not the result of an agreement." Following the
FARC's refusal, the French government called off the humanitarian mission and said foreign minister
Bernard Kouchner would visit the region.
On 2 July news reports stated that Betancourt and three American hostages were recovered (see Rescue below). Altogether, 15 hostages were freed, including 11 Colombian soldiers. Ministry of National Defense
Juan Manuel Santos said all the former hostages were in reasonably good health, although Betancourt stated she was tortured during her captivity.
RescueOn 2 July 2008, Minister of Defense
Juan Manuel Santos called a press conference to announce the rescue of
Betancourt and 14 other captives. The operation that won their release, codenamed "
Jaque" (Spanish for "
check" as in checkmate), included members of the Colombian military intelligence who infiltrated local
FARC squads and the secretariat of
FARC, according to Santos. The
FARC members in charge of the hostages were convinced to accept a request from headquarters to gather the hostages together, supposedly to be flown to
FARC chief Alfonso Cano. Instead, they were flown by government personnel dressed as
FARC members to San José del Guaviare. No one was harmed during the rescue. Three American
Northrop Grumman contractors,
Marc Gonsalves,
Keith Stansell, and
Thomas Howes, were among those released.
Colombian military agents spent months planting themselves within
FARC, gaining the members' trust, and joining the leadership council. Other agents were assigned to guard the hostages. Using their authority in the group, the agents ordered the hostages moved from three different locations to a central area. From this point, the hostages, agents, and about 60 real
FARC members made a 90-mile march through the jungle to a spot where, agents told the
FARC members, an "international mission" was coming to check on the hostages. On schedule, an unmarked white helicopter set down and Colombian security forces posing as FARC members jumped out. They told the
FARC members that they would take the hostages to the meeting with the "
international mission." All of the captives were handcuffed and placed aboard the helicopter, along with two of their
FARC guards, who were quickly disarmed and subdued after the helicopter lifted off. According to Betancourt, a crew member then turned and told the 15 hostages, "
We are the national military. You are free." Tracking technology was used by the rescuers to zero in on their target.
On 16 July 2008 it became public that one of the Colombian officials was misusing a
Red Cross emblem during the rescue operation.
Religious significancePresident Uribe stated that the rescue operation "
was guided in every way by the light of the Holy Spirit, the protection of our Lord and the Virgin Mary." The hostages indicated that they had spent much time in captivity praying the rosary, and
Betancourt, formerly a lapsed Catholic who prayed daily on a wooden rosary which she made while a hostage, attributed the rescue as follows: "
I am convinced this is a miracle of the Virgin Mary. To me it is clear she has had a hand in all of this."
On 21 July 2008,
Betancourt and her family made a pilgrimage to
Lourdes to give thanks and to pray for her captors and those who remained hostage.
In August 2008,
Betancourt and her family were received by
Pope Benedict XVI in a brief audience.
Accompanied by her mother, son and daughter, she went to
Lourdes to thank
the Virgin Mary. Betancourt, who noted the Lourdes pilgrimage would be her last public appearance until she recuperated, said she had made a rosary from buttons and old string during her captivity.
Meanwhile,
Betancourt told a French Catholic magazine,
Le Pelerin (
The Pilgrim), July 12 that she constantly had read
the Bible as a hostage, "
made many promises to the Virgin Mary," and believed her faith had "
constantly grown."
Political consequencesThe liberated
Betancourt thanked
the Colombian armed forces and President
Álvaro Uribe and gave her approval to Uribe's third term as a president. She urged neighbouring presidents
Hugo Chávez (Venezuela) and
Correa (Ecuador) to help
Colombia and seek the political transformations in her country by democratic means. And she stated that she will dedicate herself now to teaching the world about the reality of the
FARC and their hostage taking policy. Some believe that the liberation of Betancourt caused a dramatic change of the political scene.
In an interview on French radio shortly after her return to
France,
Betancourt distanced herself from
Uribe's approach, while accepting that his security policy had been successful. She said the situation was at a point where "
the vocabulary has to change" arguing that "
the way in which we talk about the other side is very important".
Reunion and celebrationSarkozy sent a French Air Force jet with
Betancourt's children, her sister
Astrid and her family, and accompanied by Foreign Minister
Bernard Kouchner for a tearful reunion. After paying her respects at her father's tomb she and the family boarded the jet and flew to
France where she was greeted by
Sarkozy and the First Lady
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. She gave speeches and urged the world not to forget and continue for the liberation of the rest of the hostages. She also spent several days in hospital.
On July 9, President
Michelle Bachelet of Chile said she would nominate
Betancourt for a Nobel Prize.
Sarkozy announced that she would receive
the Legion of Honor at the Bastille Day celebrations.
On July 20,
Betancourt appeared next to singer Juanes at a rally in Trocadero in
Paris to celebrate Colombia's independence day and to once more urge the
FARC to release all their hostages. Speaking directly to
Alfonso Cano she said:
"
See this Colombia, see the extended hand of President Uribe, and understand that it is time to stop the bloodshed. It is time to drop those weapons and change them for roses, substitute them with tolerance, respect, and as brothers that we are, find a way so that we can all live together in the world, live together in Colombia."
Allegations of paymentOn 4 July 2008, Radio Suisse Romande reported that unnamed "
reliable sources" had told it the rescue took place after a payment of USD 20 million by the United States. According to
Le Monde, the French Foreign Ministry denied the payment of any ransom by
France.
Frederich Blassel, the author of the Radio Suisse Romande story, told Colombia's W Radio that, according to his source, the release wasn't negotiated directly with
FARC but with alias
César, one of the two guerrillas captured during the operation, who would have received the payment of USD 20 million. According to Blassel, the two rebels could be given new identities by
Spain,
France and
Switzerland.
The Minister of Defense
Juan Manuel Santos, and Vice President
Francisco Santos, in response to these claims, denied any payment. "
That information is absolutely false. It has no basis. We don't know where it comes from and why its being said". He also added with a touch of irony that "
Actually, it would have been a cheap offer, because we were willing to give up to USD 100 million […] We would be the first to inform publicly, because it is part of our rewards system policy, and besides, it would speak much worse about the FARC."
According to Colombia's El Tiempo and W Radio, General
Fredy Padilla de León, Commander of the Colombian Armed Forces, denied the existence of any payment by the Colombian government. General
Padilla argued that if any payment had been made, it would have been better to make it publicly known, to use it as an incentive and to cause confusion within
FARC's ranks.
Compensation requestIn June 2010,
Betancourt requested a payment of 13,000 million Colombian pesos (US$6.8 million) from the Colombian government, alleging that it was the military officials' negligence that led to her being kidnapped by rebels. The Colombian Defense Ministry said it was “
surprised and saddened” by the demands and that there was no reason to blame the state for
Betancourt’s kidnapping, adding that she ignored insistent recommendations from the armed forces and other authorities not to proceed with her trip to
San Vicente del Caguan. Colombian vice president
Francisco Santos said that the lawsuit deserved a "
world prize for greed, ungratefulness and gall," adding that she signed a document taking all responsibility for her trip and that the Colombian state would fight the lawsuit. A few days after the news of the request had broken, and public indignation was added to the government's,
Betancourt's lawyer Gabriel announced a softer stance in the self-proclaimed compensation issue. He announced non-judicial ways to deal with it, saying the focus had to be on the "
protection mechanisms the Colombian state offers to its citizens". He stressed that the former hostage was "
deeply grateful" to "
the Colombian government, the armed forces and all those who in one way or another risked their lives to free the hostages."
Apologies from the abductorOn 15 April 2008, Betancourt's abductor,
Nolberto Uni Vega, said to journalists attending his trial in
Combita that he is sorry for abducting the former presidential candidate, and that he feels "
remorse" over her plight. Uni gave a letter of apology to a journalist for delivery to Betancourt's mother, who would pass it on to President
Sarkozy.
Jacques Thomet bookA book released in January 2006 entitled
Ingrid Betancourt, histoire de cœur ou raison d'état ? by
Jacques Thomet sparked a debate in
France about the real reasons behind the French government's involvement in
the Ingrid Betancourt affair. The book claimed that personal relationships between then French Foreign Minister
Dominique de Villepin (later prime minister) and the Betancourt sisters
Astrid and
Íngrid were the main driving force for the French government's involvement in the case and the cause of several mistakes that prolonged her captivity in the hands of the
FARC guerrillas.
La Nuit BlancheIn October 2007,
Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of
Paris, announced the upcoming
Nuit Blanche, saying, "
This year, both Paris and Rome want to dedicate La Nuit Blanche to Ingrid Bétancourt. [She is] an honorary citizen of the city of Paris, and an especially (committed and involved) woman, who has been held in Colombia by the FARC since 23 February 2002. We will [continue to] fight unceasingly for her release."
Out of Captivity bookIn their book titled Out of Captivity, American
Northrop Grumman contractors
Marc Gonsalves,
Keith Stansell, and
Thomas Howes, all of whom spent time as hostages with
Ingrid, described
Betancourt's behavior as a captive of
FARC as selfish, feeling she deserved better treatment than the other captives due to her political and social standing. The Americans, held captive by the
FARC from 2003 to 2008, stated that throughout their captivity
Betancourt claimed and took more than her fair share of scarce food, clothing, and personal space.
Stansell said, "
I can get over just about anything, but I dont know about Ingrid. Forgive? Yes. Move on? Yes. Respect? No." The Americans also allege in the book that during her captivity,
Betancourt carried-on an ongoing affair with fellow captive
Luis Eladio "
Lucho"
Perez.
In one instance, according to
Stansell,
Betancourt, who apparently did not want the Americans accommodated in the same jail as her, told the
FARC guards that the three Americans were working for the
CIA, had tracking microchips embedded in their bodies, and should be isolated and watched closely. Said
Stansell of her actions, "
We could have been executed because she wanted more space in camp for herself."
Betancourt declined to comment on the Americans' allegations. A spokesperson for her said that she was "
dedicated to writing her own book and not making declarations until it is finished."
Life after the rescueBetancourt received the
Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour) shortly after her rescue and the Prince of Asturias Award of Concord in October 2008. She also met with international heads of state and international personalities such as Secretary General of the United Nations
Ban Ki-moon,
Pope Benedict XVI, King
Juan Carlos of Spain and Prime Minister
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President
Álvaro Uribe of Colombia, President
Cristina Kirchner of Argentina, etc.
In 2008, she signed a $1 million deal with Penguin Press to write her memoirs.
Her memoir was published on 17 September 2010 after fifteen months of writing, and is titled
Même le silence a une fin (English: Even silence comes to an end); it mainly describes her ordeal as a hostage of Colombia guerrillas. The book was praised as an "
extraordinary adventure story", expressing the anguish in a poetic way.
