If he wins the consultation, he will contest the first presidential round on May 29.
The Colombian-French politician Íngrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped for six years by the guerrillas in the jungle, launched her presidential aspiration on Tuesday 20 years after being taken hostage.
In a press conference, Betancourt announced that he will participate in the electoral consultation from which the candidate of a coalition of center forces will emerge.
“I am going to work tirelessly from this moment on, from sunup to sundown, to be its president,” the leader of the Oxygen Green party said in Bogotá.
If he wins the consultation, he will contest the first presidential round on May 29.
Betancourt, 60, who settled abroad after his rescue in a military operation, recalled his kidnapping 20 years ago at the hands of the extinct FARC rebels when he was campaigning for the presidency.
“Today I am here to finish what I started with many of you in 2002. With the conviction that Colombia is ready to change course,” said the candidate.
Betancourt presented himself as a centrist alternative to the dispute between the right in power and the left headed by former mayor and former guerrilla Gustavo Petro, who is the favorite in the polls.
“For decades we have had only bad options: extreme right, extreme left. Now the time has come to have a center option, ”said the applicant.
At the same time, combating insecurity and environmental pollution was outlined as objectives. “I believe in a world with a woman’s vision,” he added.
Betancourt returned to public life after supporting the peace process with the guerrillas who kidnapped her in 2002. The politician was taken deep into the jungle and was held hostage there until 2008, when the army rescued her in an operation along with other kidnapped.
millionaire compensation
Íngrid Betancourt also referred to the compensation of 36 million dollars that the former FARC must pay her son for the damage caused by the kidnapping of the candidate, according to a recent ruling by the US justice system.
“We have become accustomed to thinking that asking for justice is abusive and indecent (…) I have come today to demand that each son, each daughter, each father, each mother be indemnified, compensated and repaired. , of all the families” victims of the conflict, he declared.
Lawrence Delloye Betancourt filed a lawsuit in a US court on June 28, 2018 against 14 high-ranking members of the FARC.
The court found that Betancourt’s son suffered “significant emotional distress” as a result of her prolonged captivity.
In 2010, the candidate also demanded compensation from the Colombian State for not guaranteeing her safety, but she gave up in the face of criticism.
“They accused me of having been ungrateful, opportunistic, greedy, for having asked for the rights that Colombian law had established to protect victims of terrorism to be recognized. But it is that the system of corruption that prevails in our country only recognizes the rights of bandits”, he lamented during the press conference.
The presidential candidate is one of the victims who awaits “truth, justice and reparation” in the framework of the investigations carried out by the peace court formed after the 2016 pact, which ended a conflict of more than half a century with the Marxist guerrilla.
Those who confess their crimes and make amends to those affected by the war will be able to avoid prison, otherwise they risk sentences of up to 20 years. (I)
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