Betancourt offers hope to other hostages

By Agence France-Presse | Monday, July 7, 2008

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PARIS | Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt sent a radio message Sunday to all hostages still in the grips of FARC rebels as she recovered in Paris from her six-year ordeal, her sister said.

Freed from Marxist rebels in Colombia's jungle Wednesday, Mrs. Betancourt went on Colombian radio to tell the remaining hostages that French President Nicolas Sarkozy had "pledged to keep working for their release," her sister, Astrid, told Agence France-Presse.

"I know that freedom will come very soon," the former presidential candidate said from her Paris hotel. She was speaking on a nighttime radio slot reserved for hostages' families, on which her mother had sent her daily messages of support.

Mrs. Betancourt, who holds French-Colombian citizenship, was given a clean bill of health after medical tests at a Paris military hospital Saturday.

On Sunday, she retreated from the media glare for a private lunch with former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who taught her at university and had campaigned for her release, her sister said.

Mr. Sarkozy has invited Mrs. Betancourt to attend France's Bastille Day celebrations on July 14, when he is to award her the Legion of Honor, France's highest distinction, according to a government source.

Mrs. Betancourt, 46, said in an interview published Sunday that she planned to "return to Colombia in a few days" and would write a play about her six-year hostage ordeal, three years of which she spent chained up night and day.

"When I was in captivity, I said to myself: 'People need to understand this, but I can't just write it down the way it happened. So I'll write a play. That way I will show people what they need to feel.'"

Snatched from the rebels in a Colombian army operation on Wednesday along with three American hostages and 11 Colombians, Mrs. Betancourt was then flown to Paris on a government plane and greeted by Mr. Sarkozy.

Bogota said the captives were rescued after Colombian soldiers posing as rebels arrived at a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) jungle hide-out and tricked guerrillas into handing them over, ostensibly to be transferred to another rebel site.

Meanwhile on Sunday, a French representative sent to Colombia to negotiate with FARC confirmed to AFP that he had met with the guerillas just two days before Mrs. Betancourt's liberation.

Noel Saez, a French former consul to Bogota, said he was forced to leave two days before the handover.

According to Mr. Saez, FARC stalled in talks and told him and his Swiss counterpart to "wait a few days" for a response.

But the two men returned to Bogota for security reasons on June 30, two days before the operation to free Mrs. Betancourt and other hostages was launched.

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