Rescuing Ingrid Betancourt
By Joanne Cvar
Pacific Green Party of Oregon

"I go to San Vicente del Caguán to demand guarantees for the civilian population of the Zone and to say to the people of San Vicente that I am fulfilling my commitment to be with them in good times and in bad, as I told them last October, when Néstor Leon Ramírez, of the Green Party, was elected mayor of their city."
-Ingrid Betancourt, Feb. 22, 2002

	Hope for Ingrid's release?
	After 41 years of civil war in Colombia, which has cost the lives of some 200,000 civilians caught in the crossfire, hopes have been raised in fall 2005 for long-awaited negotiations to bring peace to this violence-torn country. The Catholic Church has offered to mediate a cease-fire, as a first step toward negotiations between the rebels and the government. Monsignor Luís Augusto Castro, who led this initiative and who has spent 30 years ministering in the forests of Caguán, knows many of the leaders of the FARC personally and has successfully negotiated with them in the past for the release of prisoners.

Ingrid Betancourt, founder of the Partido Verde Oxigeno de Colombia (Green Oxygen Party) and their candidate for president at the time, was captured by the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on Feb. 23, 2002, along with her friend and campaign manager Clara Rojas, on the road to San Vicente for a rally in rebel-held territory. Although the FARC continue to assert that Betancourt is alive and in good health, the only direct word from her since has been a video released by the FARC shortly after her capture, in which she indignantly demands her release as a civilian noncombatant.

Green parties across the globe have been calling for the release of Betancourt and Rojas, most recently at a May 2005 meeting of the European Federation of Green Parties in Riga, Latvia. Their resolution calls for a Conference of Green Parties to be convened in Bogotá, Colombia, working in solidarity with the Partido Verde Oxigeno "in favor of the liberation of Betancourt and all the hostages." The dates have been set for Oct. 31-Nov. 6.

In addition to Greens from around the planet, the program is to include Colombian dignitaries, church leaders, several NGOs and families of the hostages. (The FARC are holding 1,600 hostages, some for as long as seven years. They include government officials, police and soldiers, 400 children and three American contractors whose plane crashed in the jungle.)

The European Green resolution also calls for letters to the presidents of Venezuela, Chile and Brazil, asking them to increase pressure on the FARC to release the prisoners. Perhaps in response, the Colombian government has recently received invitations to host the negotiations from Brazil, Venezuela and "other friendly countries." 

Much effort to free Betancourt has also come from Europe, including France, where her father served as Colombian minister to UNESCO during Betancourt's childhood, as well as Switzerland, where the International Federation of Ingrid Betancourt Committees (www.betancourt.info) is based. Made up of approximately 80 committees in Europe and Africa, the Federation has been working to raise awareness of the plight of Betancourt and other Colombian hostages and to form coalitions calling for mediation for their release. As part of this process, the Federation has initiated two letter-writing campaigns. 

The first, in recognition of U.S. influence in Colombia, asks elected officials and persons known for their support of human rights to write to members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urging an end to the violence in Colombia and the release of the hostages. Eighty-four dignitaries have responded so far. 

The second, Aéropostale 3000, has delivered more than 10,000 letters from Europe to the NGO Asfamipaz in Bogotá since 2003, as part of a campaign "to make sure that the situation of the hostages will be spoken about and not forgotten, not allowing them to die alone in the forest." 

Betancourt's mother, Yolanda Pulecio, herself a former senator, has appealed repeatedly to the Colombian parliament and President Alvaro Uribe for a commitment to negotiations. Pulecio, along with Ingrid's sister, Astrid, and husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, has traveled the world seeking support for Ingrid's release. Last spring, Lecompte flew a private plane over rebel-held territory to drop 6,000 photographs of Ingrid's children, in hopes she would find one and know she is not forgotten. 

The family's unceasing efforts and international pressure to release the prisoners seem to have softened Uribe's hard-line stance against negotiations with the FARC, whom he has designated terrorists. The FARC have also seemed to be open to negotiations, although they insist first upon an extended "safe haven" for the negotiations, as well as the return of 500 of their forces held by the Colombian government in exchange for 60 hostages, including Betancourt. They also want the return of two FARC commanders extradited to the U.S. on drug charges. 

	Ingrid's husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, at a meeting of the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas (Federaciôn de Partidos Verdes de las Americas), Dominican Republic, December 2002. Photo: Mike Feinstein / Green Party of California

President Uribe and the FARC have not reached agreement on the location and extent of the zone to be demilitarized for negotiations. The Colombian government accuses the FARC of seeking military advantage and, to the horror of the families of the hostages, threatens to use military force to attempt a rescue. In June, Pulecio reminded the president of his repeated promises, including one to French President Chirac, that under no circumstances would he attempt a rescue by "blood and fire." Earlier attempts at bombing and armed rescue failed, killing several captives in the process.

Elected in 1994 to the Colombian House of Deputies and in 1998 to the Senate, Betancourt has been a lonely voice for reform in a country where corruption and violence have become an accepted way of life. The recipient of many death threats for her work to stem the billion-dollar drug trade (a major asset to the Colombian economy as well as to the rebels and paramilitaries), she has refused to be intimidated. Betancourt has also been a fierce advocate for her people, 67 percent of whom live in poverty, including 3.5 million children (out of a population of 40 million) without schooling. Her voice may be temporarily silenced, but her courage and steadfast adherence to Green values have made her an international symbol of peace, a nominee for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and a "Citizen of Honour" in more than 1,400 cities and villages worldwide. 

Betancourt's inspiring memoir, La rage au coeur, published in 2001, has been a best seller in Europe, while the award-winning documentary film, The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt, recently appeared on HBO's Cinemax Reel Life section. Produced and directed by filmmakers Victoria Bruce and Karin Hayes, the film documents the struggle of Betancourt's family and the Green Party in 2002 to free her and keep her presidential campaign alive. The film has aired on television in 15 areas worldwide and at numerous festivals and universities, and is distributed on VHS and DVD by Women Make Movies (www.wmm.com/kidnapping). 

Ingrid, wherever you are, we remember the words you spoke at Canberra: "We all belong to the same family, trusting in our forces" (Global Greens, February 2005, author's translation).

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