The Crime Book

325

Ingrid Betancourt looks thin and

unhealthy during her time in the

jungle. This still, taken from a video

of the camp, was confiscated from a

captured guerrilla in 2007.

See also: The Abduction of Pocahontas 176 ■ The Kidnapping of Patty Hearst 188−89 ■ The Abduction of Aldo Moro 322–23

ASSASSINATIONS AND POLITICAL PLOTS

director of UNESCO. Ingrid was

a pacifist, dedicated to fighting

corruption in Colombia. She

was elected to the Chamber of

Representatives in 1994, and had

created her own political party,

the Green Oxygen Party, in 1997.

In a landslide victory, she became

a senator in 1998, and launched

her campaign for the Colombian

presidency in 2001.

Captured campaigners

Despite advice, Betancourt took

her campaign into rebel territory

in February 2002. There, she and

Rojas were kidnapped by FARC

guerrillas. Forced to abandon their

vehicle, they were chained by the

neck to other prisoners and led

from the main road into the remote

villages, where they travelled by

foot into the rainforest.

During her six years in captivity,

Betancourt tried to escape three

times, swimming down the rivers

and hiking through the rainforest

for days before being recaptured.

While in captivity she was beaten,

underfed, forced on epic marches

at gunpoint, and often threatened

with death.

Betancourt nearly died from

hepatitis and malaria. Her health

was so poor that in July 2003 FARC

told Betancourt’s family that they

would release her, due to her

condition. However, the promised

handover never happened.

False dawn and release

An abortive French rescue bid

failed to bring Betancourt home,

and angered Colombian authorities,

who had not been consulted about

the mission. As her health declined,

only irregular videos and missives

from the rebels told her family that

she was still alive. Her husband,

Juan Carlos le Compte, feared that

an armed rescue attempt by the

Colombian government would see

the hostages killed. The six years

passed slowly.

Meanwhile, in the jungle, Clara

Rojas began a relationship with

one of her captors, and nearly died

giving birth by Caesarean in the

jungle, with scalpels sterilized

over candles. Accused by other

hostages of sleeping with the

enemy, Rojas was eventually freed

in January 2008.

Betancourt’s own freedom

soon followed. On 2 July 2008,

a Colombian military team entered

rebel territory. Disguised as

guerrillas – even wearing iconic

Che Guevara T-shirts – they flew

into the jungle camp in a civilian

helicopter. They claimed to be

taking the hostages for a meeting

with a rebel leader, and managed to

fly Betancourt and three Americans

to safety without bloodshed.

As the Colombian government

promised to secure the release of

the remaining hostages, Betancourt

returned home, and became a

symbol of the country’s brutal

guerrilla war. ■

It was a battle, not only

with the guerrillas, but

with ourselves.

Ingrid Betancourt

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