Ingrid BetancourtBy: Paige Whistler

Ingrid was born in Colombia on Dec. 25th 1961.

She grew up in Paris where her father was a diplomat.

Her mother Yolanda Pulecio, former Miss Colombia who later served in Colombia’s Congress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Dngrid_Betancourt

As a little child

Ingrid Betancourt

After graduating, she married fellow student Fabrice Delloye in 1983.

Had two children named Melanie and Lorenzo.

In 1990’s divorced, then she married Colombian advertising executive, Juan Carlos Lecompte in 1997.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7266587.stm

About her family

Ingrid’s son Lorenzo and daughter Melanie.

Ingrid received multiple international awards such as the Legion D’Honneur , Prince of Asturias award.

She returned to Colombia in 1989 to become actively involved in national politics.There, she was elected to the Chamber of Representatives in 1994, on an anti-corruption ticket. She then formed her own party, the Green Oxygen Party, and became a senator in 1998.

More interesting facts

Giving a speech to help win her election.

Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on Feb. 23 2002.

She was rescued by Colombian Security forces six and half years later on July 2, 2008.

14 others were saved with her that day.

Ingrid kidnapping

She was held captive for 2,321 days after being taken while campaigning for the Colombian Presidency as a green.

In the video, said to have been filmed the month before, Ms Betancourt, looking extremely thin, sat on a chair in a jungle setting, not speaking but just looking at the ground.

Continued…

When she was held hostage.

She wrote letters to her family and also listened to the radio to hear their voices crying out for her.

In a letter addressed to her mother released shortly after the video, she said her strength had diminished, her appetite had gone, and her hair was falling out. Being the only woman in the group, I have to be covered up: shorts, blouse and boots. So I bathe in clothes like our grandmothers did.

During the kidnapped

Waiting to be rescued.

The government would make the first move, releasing insurgents charged or condemned for rebellion and either allowing them to leave the country or to stay and join the state's reinsertion program. Then the FARC would release the hostages in its possession, including Ingrid Betancourt. The proposal would have been carried out with the backing and support of the French and Swiss governments, who publicly supported it once it was revealed.

August 2004

FARC (Revolutionary Armed forces of Colombia)

In February 2006, France urged the FARC to seize the chance offered by a European-proposed prisoner swap, accepted by Bogotá, and free dozens it had held for up to seven years. Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said it was "up to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to show they were serious about releasing former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and other detainees.

February 2006

Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy

On July 9, President Michelle Bachelet of Chile said she would nominate Betancourt for a Nobel Prize. Sarkozy announced that she would receive the Legion of honor at the Bastille Day celebrations.

On July 20, Betancourt appeared next to singer Juanes at a rally in Trocadero in Paris to celebrate Colombia's independence day and to once more urge the FARC to release all their hostages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Dngrid_Betancourt

July 9th, July 20

Ingrid with Juanes

The end (: