President Uribe, a tough anti-guerrilla campaigner, won the Colombian
election, complicating hopes of negotiating a release. The following year,
Villepin’s bungled rescue mission, in which a Hercules transport plane flew
agents in secret to Manaus in Brazil, caused a furore with Brazil and
Colombia. Colombia largely forgot about Betancourt, who was one of 2,000
hostages, while France kept the flame alive, with media help, support
committees and councils declaring her honorary citizen of their towns.
France continued to infuriate Uribe with secret contacts with Farc. Meanwhile
details of her ordeal emerged from escaped and released hostages. Betancourt
had made four attempts to escape, was chained by the neck day and night and
often tortured. She remained defiant, acting as leader of her hostage group,
fighting for small privileges.
Last November, in the first video for four years, she appeared emaciated and
ill, staring silently at the ground. In a desperate letter to her mother at
the same time, she said she was living a living death. “Here, life is not
life,” she said. “I am tired of suffering and of lying to myself, thinking
that it’s going to finish and then realising each new day is the same as the
hell of the day before.” But she refused to give up. She drew solace from
thoughts of her children, family and France. “My sweet France, which has
given me so much,” she wrote. “Since my capture, France has been the voice
of wisdom and love. She has never given up.”
Meanwhile, Sarkozy had taken control of the case away from the Foreign
Ministry, where it was for a long time handled by Daniel Parfait, the former
ambassador to Bogotá who had married Betancourt’s sister Astrid.
In the opinion of Uribe and some French officials, the constant French
campaigning had hampered Betancourt’s release because it raised her value in
the eyes of her captors.
Sarkozy deployed his usual energy, setting up a palace unit to win her
release. He angered Uribe by bringing in Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s populist
president, to mediate. He also made two radio appeals to Farc to release its
hostages.
In March Sarkozy flew out a medical team to receive the hostage, who was said
to be gravely ill with hepatitis. The plane returned without Betancourt. The
French also offered a haven to Farc guerillas, again to no avail. In the
end, a clever, purely military operation, by the Colombians won her release.
Betancourt’s bright, strong manner and her grace on her release has greatly
cheered her family and French supporters. She stepped from the plane first
thanking the Virgin Mary and God for her safety. She regretted nothing, she
said, including her decision to defy warnings and travel into guerilla
country. She has surprised supporters by saying that she supports the
re-election of Uribe, who has waged constant war with the guerrillas,
refusing negotiation. “My liberty is a miracle,” she said. The
President interrupted: “A miracle from God, helped by the Colombian Army.”
“Yes that’s right,” she answered. Her political colleagues were, however,
disappointed that she did not apparently plan to run again for the
presidency.
Her supporters marvelled at her resilience after six years, four months and
nine days in arduous captivity. “She is a great lady and a great politician
who has come back to us from the forest,” said Laura Gil, a political
analyst.
French experts said that Betancourt’s elation on her release would give way to
the counter-shock usually suffered by former hostages, especially after so
long in captivity. Betancourt said that she drew great strength during her
years in the jungle from hearing the voice of her mother, a former beauty
queen, in broadcasts to her on the radio.
Her spirits were also raised by hearing occasionally of the vast campaign in
France. On Monday, while still in captivity, she had heard that French
climbers had taken her portrait to the summit of Mont Blanc on the first day
of the French presidency of the European union.
“I will soon be with you,” she told France, switching from Spanish to French.
“I dream of being in France,” she said. She is to arrive in Paris to a
hero’s welcome later this afternoon.
How she will feel: Alan Pike, trauma care consultant at the Centre for
Crisis Psychology:
At first, people taken hostage experience helplessness and frustration: they
no longer have any control over their own destiny. They then begin to
acclimatise, and may reflect on their situation and how they got there. It
is not unusual to feel guilt towards loved ones for being in a dangerous
area. There is post-traumatic depression, a bit like bereavement: they know
they may never see family again.
Terry Waite and John McCarthy both said isolation was the worst aspect: access
to a radio or a letter — little things are vital. It is difficult to think
about anything other than how you might be released. After release, people
go through a rollercoaster of emotions, including euphoria and adrenalin so
they cannot sleep. It will take a long time for Íngrid Betancourt to
readjust. There may be flashbacks and , hypervigilance over her safety and
that of her family. If she needs time, space, peace and quiet, that’s what
her family must give.
Interview: Chloe Lambert
Tasting freedom: the other hostages
Three American anti-narcotics contractors were freed with Ìngrid Betancourt in
a slick military operation by the Colombian government. They had been held
captive for five years after their plane crashed in the Colombian jungle,
deep in rebel territory. They became the longest-held American hostages in
the world.
Keith Stansell, 43. His girlfriend was four months pregnant with twins
at the time of his capture. In a video he begged governments to find a
diplomatic solution rather than try a military rescue.
Marc Gonsalves, 36. The married father of three had hepatitis when he
was taken and had to survive on rice, beans and yuca. His mother travelled
the world campaigning for his release.
Thomas Howes, 54. Videos of the captured pilot, and a few letters, were
the only communication his wife and two sons had. His niece said this week
the rescue “redefined the word miracle”.
