Betancourt, Ingrid

Born in the family of a diplomat, a UNESCO representative in France and a model, winner of the Colombian beauty pageant.

After graduating from the French Lyceum in Bogota, she entered the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris . In 1980, she met the French diplomat Fabrice Delloy. They soon got married. He already had a son from his first marriage, Ingrid gave birth to two more children - daughter Melanie ( 1985 ) and son Lorenzo ( 1988 ). Despite this, the couple soon parted. After the divorce, Ingrid returned with her children to Colombia, but retained French citizenship.

The second time she gets married in Colombia in 1997 .

Since 1990, Ingrid Betancourt worked in the Ministry of Finance of the Republic, and in 1994 became a deputy of the Colombian Parliament. She was an activist of the Liberal Party, but in protest against the corruption of the regime of President Ernesto Samper left her, after which she created and led the environmental movement Green Oxygen.

In July 1998, Betancourt won the Senate election, gaining the most votes among independent candidates. In 2002, she ran for president of Colombia. Polls at that time gave her only one percent of the vote.

February 23, 2002 , during a trip to the southern regions of the country, Betancourt was taken hostage by the national liberation organization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( abbr. FARC, Spanish. FARC ). Among the hostages was Clara Rojas , Betancourt's assistant.

Alvaro Uribe , who won the presidential race ( May 26, 2002 ), as well as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and a number of senior French officials made efforts to free Betancourt from captivity.

In October 2007, for the first time in a long time, the image of the hostage was made public - Betancourt's face looked exhausted, she herself was very thin. At the same time, information leaked to the press that she was developing one of the forms of hepatitis. But, when in January 2008, thanks to the efforts of Hugo Chavez, a number of hostages were released from FARC captivity, including Clara Rojas , Betancourt was not among those released.

In April 2008, the newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a humanitarian mission to Colombia to liberate Betancourt, but again to no avail.

During the time that Betancourt was held captive, her children - the son of Lorenzo and daughter Melanie - participated in rallies in her support more than once, and made statements to the press. So, in early April 2008, Lorenzo Delloye-Betancourt appeared on the air of Radio France International with a call to make every effort to release his mother.

Liberation

On July 2, 2008, at about midnight Moscow time, news came that Ingrid Betancourt was released as a result of the special operation Shah ( French Opération Jaque , Spanish Operación Jaque ). At press conferences given after her release, Betancourt refrained from making statements about the conditions under which the FARC fighters were holding her, as well as whether she would continue to participate in politics. Betancourt also admitted that after six years of being held hostage, the FARC changed its views on the Holy Scriptures. “There is an instruction for happiness, and it is called the Bible,” said I. Betancourt at a press conference ^[2] .

July 14, 2008 awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor ^[3] .

• Ingrid Betancourt. Curriculum Vitae
• Ingrid Betancourt: What I learned about fear and faith in 6 years of captivity