Betancourt praises Chavez and distances herself from Uribe

Ingrid Betancourt praises Chavez and distances herself from Uribe
By Translated from Spanish for Axis of Logic by Siv O'Neall
Jul 9, 2008, 11:01

July 7-2008. For the newly liberated Ingrid Betancourt, the Venezuelan President is a "special ally", while she asks Uribe to tone down his "hate speech".

Comments by Radio France International and AP respectively quote statements by Ingrid Betancourt, such as:

Ingrid Betancourt: "Chavez holds a unique key position" Radio France International (RFI)

Seated in the same chair that her son Lorenzo was sitting in seven months ago to send messages to the Colombian jungle, Ingrid Betancourt spoke at the RFI microphone. She talked about the hostages, who are still in the hands of FARC, highlighted the "extraordinary" role that can be played by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in the release of the hostages and she distanced herself from the President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, expressing her opinion that he thinks first of all in terms of security while she favors "social justice" to end the conflict in the South American country.

And she talked. The first thing was to launch an "international call for a march that should take place in Bogota and in all of Colombia on July 20, demanding the release of all remaining hostages in Colombia." "We need unilateral releases and they should be released now. The FARC have to realize they have lost the battle," she said.

In this sense, she called for solidarity among Latin American peoples. The appeal was directed especially to Venezuelans and Ecuadorians, seeking further support from the presidents of Chile and Argentina, asking Cristina Kirchner especially to send a message to organize a march to free the prisoners.

Betancourt said that after FARC lost its most notorious hostages (3 Americans and herself) "Today with what we have it would be shameful to accuse FARC. Because the world is judging them as torturers, human rights violators and drug traffickers dressed as guerrillas." "We are really in a situation where they are badly off. If they want to give themselves a chance, they must first of all do something good for themselves, which would be trying to claim their rights in the history of the world, and secondly, give something to Colombia, which would be releasing the hostages who are there at this moment and this would be the beginning of a peace process that we are all waiting for. "

"Chavez, an extraordinary ally"

To break the deadlock, the former hostage called for "getting out of this standstill, this tug-of-war where each one pulls towards his side and nobody wants to give an inch," referring to the differences expressed by Uribe and the FARC in the carrying out of a humanitarian agreement.

Ingrid Betancourt, seeing this impasse, says that "other options must be tried that have proved to be working". "It seems to me that Hugo Chavez is magnificent. If I can help in doing something I want to restore friendship, confidence - I do not know how to do it - between Uribe and Chavez because Chavez has a key position that nobody else has. He can tell FARC things they will listen to. FARC did not like it at all when Chavez said that armed struggle in Latin America was obsolete and that they should think of doing things differently."

"I listened to RFI and I commented on it with all the guerrillas that passed by. That irritated them terribly. Chavez is the one who has succeeded in making them think differently. He managed to get 7 people before us and he can probably get more. I believe that Chavez is a special ally for us," she said.

After highlighting the role of the Venezuelan president, Ingrid Betancourt differed from Alvaro Uribe and his vision of the Colombian conflict. When questioned whether the likely end of the FARC is tantamount to peace in Colombia, Betancourt said: "Therein lies my disagreement with Uribe. For Uribe, the solution to FARC is a final restoration of peace in Colombia. For me, peace in Colombia can only be achieved through some social transformations. For Uribe the Colombian crisis is a problem of national security, conflict, which produces social injustice or social conflict. For me it is a conflict of social violence that produces insecurity."

"You have to understand that there is a lot of youth in Colombia who are looking for an opportunity in life where they can look at themselves and feel that they are respectable and that someone must be able to take silver without being bandits. That is not the option we have. Either there are young people with silver and they are bandits, or there are young people without silver and they are begging at the traffic lights. And young people prefer to have a gun and run through the jungle and feel like Rambo ", she analyzed.

The news agency Associated Press (AP) had a headline as follows:

"Ingrid Betancourt asks Uribe to tone down 'his hate speech' "

The former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, requested that President Alvaro Uribe tone down "his radical and extremist hate speech" against guerrillas who had remained captive for six years.

Betancourt, who was released last week during a military operation, evaded questions about her future in an interview with French radio. She conducted a campaign to obtain the presidency of Colombia when she was abducted in 2002.

Recent surveys indicate that Betancourt enjoys high popularity, but many Colombians feel alien to politics.

"That makes you want to serve Colombia with all my heart, but I think it is too early to talk about such things," said Betancourt to Radio France International.

When she was asked about the possibility of Uribe seeking a third term, Betancourt said "Why not?"
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