Bogota - Ingrid Bentancourt, the former Colombian
presidential candidate who was rescued from leftist rebels exactly a
year ago, asked Thursday that the world not forget the people who
remain in captivity in the South American nation.
Betancourt was kidnapped by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia (FARC) in February 2002 and spent over six years in
captivity before being rescued on July 2, 2008 by Operation Jaque, an
undercover Colombia Army operation.
Betancourt was freed along with three US defence contractors and
11 Colombian military and police officers, when the military tricked
the rebels into handing over the rebels for a pretend transfer within
the jungle in southern Colombia.
The former presidential candidate - who holds dual French-
Colombian citizenship and was the most high-profile hostage held by
FARC - said she is setting up a foundation to support former
hostages.
Betancourt told Colombian radio station Caracol that she, like
most observers, has noticed since her rescue a drop in interest in
the plight of current hostages - 22 military and police officers, as
well as hundreds of non-politically relevant prisoners held for
ransom by the rebels - both in the South American country and abroad.
'For me it is very painful to think that our liberation may serve
as a justification to forget them, or to have nothing happen, to turn
the page,' she said.
Betancourt said she would like to 'do something' and that for now
the only thing she can think of is speaking so that the world is
reminded of what is happening in Colombia.
'I suffer greatly with my comrades' situation and we have to be
careful that in anything we do we are not turned into instruments of
the guerrilla. The guerrilla has turned kidnapping into its business
card, and it gets publicity through the infamy of kidnapping,' she
said.
Betancourt recalled that she is working on a book that should be
on sale in 2010. However, she noted that she has found it painful to
remember the 'tortures and humiliations' she suffered in the jungle.
FARC, who have been fighting the state for more than 45 years,
largely finance themselves with proceeds from drug trafficking and
are independent of popular support.
The Marxist rebels have been pushed back by determined action
under conservative President Alvaro Uribe, but have so far rejected
negotiations and refused to renounce violence.
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