Ingrid Betancourt
Politician and Activist
Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio is a French-Colombian politician and anti-corruption activist. In February 2002 Betancourt was kidnapped by the leftist guerrilla organization Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) while she was campaigning for the presidential elections. She was finally rescued by Colombian security forces six and a half years later, in an operation dubbed Operation Jaque, which also rescued 14 other hostages. Her kidnapping received worldwide coverage, particularly in France, because of her dual French citizenship. In 2010 she wrote a memoir about her time in captivity called "Even Silence Has an End."
Everyone has freedom to choose what kind of person he or she wants to be. We can live like cockroaches and feed on rubbish—or like eagles, who fly very high.
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2 min
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Over 4 million people are displaced in Colombia because of war; both the rightist paramilitary and the leftist guerillas steal land to make themselves richer.
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4 min
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“I realized being in the jungle that what I had thought I could do—changing the way politics were being done in Colombia—was not possible the way I wanted to do […]
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3 min
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Some of Betancourt’s fellow captives were critical of her behavior in their memoir. “I don’t want to judge them because I think we all are entitled to our truth and […]
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5 min
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In order to respect herself and to keep hold of her sanity, Betancourt refused to follow her guards’ orders. When you’re obliged to do things you don’t want to do, […]
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7 min
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During her six years in captivity, the former Colombian presidential candidate learned that those who are stripped of power lash out against those who are equally powerless—just like children in […]
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6 min
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A conversation with the former Colombian presidential candidate and political hostage.
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26 min
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