Ingrid Betancourt: Six years in the jungle (and counting)

This past Saturday marked the sixth anniversary of the kidnapping of French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt by the FARC guerillas. It was on February 23, 2002 when Betancourt- then-running for the presidency- was captured while venturing through a former demilitarized zone granted to the guerillas. Since then little is known of her condition aside from a few videos taken while in captivity with the most recent one released last November showing a very frail and shackled Betancourt [image].

Several events took place on Saturday calling for Betancourt’s prompt liberation. In Bogota, several of her relatives prayed for her at a public mass including her mother who last week backed Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’ role in a possible humanitarian exchange. Meanwhile, a remembrance ceremony was held in downtown Paris, France but not before Betancourt’s daughter met with French president Nicolas Sarkozy. (Chavez was pivotal in the freeing of Betancourt aide Clara Rojas last month while Sarkozy has pledged to help Betancourt).

In the meantime, an article from the Associated Press implies that Betancourt’s fame serves as a double-edged sword regarding any strategy to liberate her:

"Without justifying this atrocity by the FARC, the person who has most contributed to the fact that Ingrid has been turned in to this valuable merchandise, this "jewel in the crown," and so put up obstacles to her freedom, is her mother and the way she has behaved," Gen. Freddy Padilla, commander of Colombia's armed forces, said in an interview with Semana magazine last month…

Betancourt's current husband and mother say they're being blamed for her plight because of their criticisms of the Colombian government's seeming reluctance to reach out to the rebels.

"If we hadn't done anything, the government would not be feeling this pressure from around the world to make a deal with the FARC," said Juan Carlos Lecompte, Betancourt's husband when she was kidnapped.

Image- BBC News

Sources- The Latin Americanist, International Herald Tribune, Al Jazeera, BBC News, Voice of America, El Universal, Wikipedia