Former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt is scheduled to release a book in late September detailing her experience as a guerrilla captive.
The book, written in French, is titled “Même le silence a une fin” (“Even silence has an end”), and will recount her “hellish journey” as a FARC captive, according to the book’s publishers.
“It is not a sensational book, but a true, deep and beautiful book” in which Betancourt depicts “a human adventure that is vibrant in spite of its atrocious nature,'” the French-Colombian’s editor said.
In July Betancourt was widely condemned in Colombia after it was revealed that the former hostage, who spent six years in FARC captivity, was seeking damages from the Colombian government for her time as a prisoner of the rebels. Following an outcry against her, she withdrew the petition.
Betancourt was kidnapped by the FARC on February 23, 2002, when she traveled to the newly-remilitarized El Caguan area to campaign for the presidency. Colombia’s armed forces rescued her and thirteen others in the highly-celebrated liberation mission “Operation Checkmate” on July 2, 2008.
Three American contractors who were Betancourt’s fellow FARC hostages, and who were also rescued in Operation Checkmate, painted a grim picture of the French-Colombian in their book “Out of Captivity,” claiming she was arrogant, stole food, and put their lives in danger by telling the rebel guards that the authors were agents.
Betancourt left Colombia shortly after she was freed in the daring rescue operation and has only returned briefly to her native land. She now splits her time between Paris and New York.