France fetes Betancourt’s release
July 04, 2008
PARIS: France celebrated on Thursday the release of Ingrid Betancourt, whose six-year hostage ordeal in a Colombian jungle turned her into a cause celebre, championed by President Nicolas Sarkozy and grassroots groups.
The French-Colombian politician was to return to France on Friday with her family, two days after she was rescued along with 14 other hostages in a dramatic operation mounted by Colombian spies posing as FARC rebels.
Betancourt was reunited with her 22-year-old daughter Melanie, son Lorenzo, 19, sister Astrid and ex-husband Fabrice Delloye who flew from Paris to Bogota with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
“Today there is immense joy. All of France is happy about the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt,” said Sarkozy late on Wednesday at the Elysee Palace, flanked by the smiling children before they boarded his presidential jet for Bogota.
Sarkozy, who made Betancourt’s release a priority after taking office in May last year, is to personally welcome Betancourt when she arrives in Paris on Friday afternoon, an Elysee official said.
“She will be leaving very quickly and tomorrow in the middle of the afternoon, she will be with us,” Sarkozy chief of staff Claude Gueant told France 3 television.
A charismatic politician who was abducted in February 2002 while campaigning for the Colombian presidency, Betancourt had become a household name in France where her family fought for her freedom.
The French-Colombian politician was to return to France on Friday with her family, two days after she was rescued along with 14 other hostages in a dramatic operation mounted by Colombian spies posing as FARC rebels.
Betancourt was reunited with her 22-year-old daughter Melanie, son Lorenzo, 19, sister Astrid and ex-husband Fabrice Delloye who flew from Paris to Bogota with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
“Today there is immense joy. All of France is happy about the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt,” said Sarkozy late on Wednesday at the Elysee Palace, flanked by the smiling children before they boarded his presidential jet for Bogota.
Sarkozy, who made Betancourt’s release a priority after taking office in May last year, is to personally welcome Betancourt when she arrives in Paris on Friday afternoon, an Elysee official said.
“She will be leaving very quickly and tomorrow in the middle of the afternoon, she will be with us,” Sarkozy chief of staff Claude Gueant told France 3 television.
A charismatic politician who was abducted in February 2002 while campaigning for the Colombian presidency, Betancourt had become a household name in France where her family fought for her freedom.
