Twenty years ago, Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped on a road in southern Colombia, while she was a presidential candidate. She spent six years at the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, demobilized in 2016. Now 60, she has announced her intention to run once more for the presidency of her country.
“I will work tirelessly from now on, from sunrise to sunset, to be your president,” declared the ex-hostage, Tuesday, January 19, during a press conference held in Bogota. Two months before the primaries and four months before the presidential election on May 29, the decision of Mme Betancourt created the surprise. Since his release in 2008, the ex-hostage has always lived abroad, mainly in France. She has French nationality and, during the years of her captivity, Paris spared no effort to secure her release.
“Ingrid’s candidacy is symbolically important for Colombian democracy, considers Jorge Ivan Cuervo, professor of political science in Bogota. The country has changed in twenty years. Thanks to the peace agreement signed in 2016, the FARC, which became a political party, and Ingrid, who was their victim, find themselves side by side in the democratic game. »
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On his Twitter account, M.me Betancourt is defined as “mom, grandmother, Colombian and free”. At the end of 2021, the electoral authorities resuscitated his party, Verde Oxigeno, which joined the centrist coalition known as the “Coalition of Hope”. “I’m here to finish what I started in 2002, along with many of you, because I believe Colombia is finally ready to change course,” said the former hostage, announcing her candidacy for the Hope Coalition primary.
Ingrid Betancourt, she has not changed course. Like twenty years ago, she has put the fight once morest corruption at the heart of her political program. Since Tuesday, the presidential pre-candidate has been denouncing a country “sequestered by corruption and political apparatuses”. It also emphasizes the cause of women, the climate emergency and the fight once morest insecurity. Mme Betancourt, who supported the peace process and defended the rights of victims, poses as a candidate for reconciliation. As a good centrist candidate, she considers that it is necessary “overcome the extremes”.
“Ingrid’s candidacy is good news for the Coalition of Hope, which lacked women! », says Senator Angelica Lozano. The six candidates registered for the primary of this coalition are men, white. The ex-mayor of Medellin, Sergio Fajardo, candidate of the Green Party, is best placed to win this election.
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