Former hostages of the Colombian FARC
guerrillas have been defending the character of Ingrid Betancourt after
being severely criticized by three American hostages in their newly
released book.
The three Americans – former U.S. military workers Keith Stansell, Thomas Howes and
Marc Gonsalves – have written a book containing claims that she was
arrogant, she stole food, and put the authors’ lives in danger by
telling the rebel guards that the authors were CIA agents.
But former hostage Orlando Beltran disagreed: “I can say that Ingrid
Betancourt is a brave and aggressive woman. On several occasions she
insulted the guerrillas for behavior she did not agree with. I have a
lot of respect for Ingrid for being brave enough to try to escape from
captivity four times. Did these American men ever think about trying to
escape from the guerrillas?”
And another freed
captive, Sigifredo Lopez, said: “I’m sorry but I will not put down my
copy of Borges or Shakespeare in order to read this book by the
Americans.”
Betancourt was captured by the Marxist rebel group while campaigning for the Presidency early in 2002.
She was freed along with the three American authors in a daring military rescue last year. (Euronews)