I feel for Ingrid Betancourt — I was kidnapped, too

Antonio Nunez

This is precisely the sort of article that should appear in the British and continental European mainstream press. For some reason the FARC (and their lesser known brethren, the ELN and the EPL) are still seen as acceptable bedmates by quite a few opinion-makers, whereas in reality they have fought for almost 50 years against a democratic state with a progressive Constitution and o some of the most activist courts in the world. In this fight they have financed themselves with kidnappings and extortion, and with drug traffic and money laundering. To increase their income they have slashed the rainforests and poised the rivers with chemical predecessors. They have seeded the countryside with mines that everyday tear off the limbs of men, women and children. To sabotage oil extraction some of them have bombed the oil pipelines literally hundreds of times spilling crude oil over some of the richest ecosystems in the world. They have received bombing lessons from the IRA and have plenty of business with ETA. They recruit children to do their killing, and the comandantes use the girls as concubines, whom they force to abort when they become pregnant. While the rank and file eat little and have poor medical care and supplies, the comandantes and their families summer in sanctuaries in neighboring countries and have access to anything that money can buy. The FARC have no political project beyong their own continued existence. When asked by the previous Pastrana Administration what were their demands to lay down arms, they were unable to articulate them. In polls taken in Colombia never have more than a 3% approval rate, whereas the President, the Courts, the Army, are all well over 50% (the President has an 85% rating-unprecedented). The FARC still hold hundreds of kidnap victims. It is high time ill-informed British and Europeans stop giving oxygen.

Anne

No wonder she doesn't want to talk about it yet. But she is strong.

Jeff Chaplin

Maybe I don't have all the facts that writer has at his disposal, but here in Canada, it seems to widely accepted, even in the 'right wing' press, that Uribe's government, in association with 'right wing death squads' (nice democratic people I'm sure) feel justified in using violence (a small matter of murder, torture, and rape) against those who work towards more obtaining reasonable employment conditions. It would be nice if this were untrue and Uribe and his nice democratic government did no such thing. Also, it's been reported that the rescuing of the 'high profile' victims (Betancourt, US military, and security personnel) has put the lives of the other B-list kidnap victims at further risk. Nothing new there of course.

David Short

Kidnapped for an hour?

Poor baby!

MANUEL

Its a shame that some people still support these TERRORISTS GROUPS!... WE colombians dont want them in our country, and I think that these terrorists organizations have to respond to justice because of genocide and all the war crimes they have been doing all these years...

VIVA COLOMBIA!