Former Colombian presidential candidate and FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt said Friday she was optimistic about the outcome of peace talks with the rebel group that held her hostage for six years.
In an interview with Bogota public television, Betancourt — who’s been living in France since her release in 2008 — said President Juan Manuel Santos “is sowing what is necessary to achieve peace.”
According to the French-Colombian politician, the current president is the indicated person to successfully conclude peace talks with the group that has been fighting the state since 1964.
“If we don’t succeed with Juan Manuel Santos, it will be very difficult. Who else would be able to?” the politician rhetorically asked.
Betancourt said Santos “is doing quite well … he doesn’t have a messiah complex, he does not think he has had the truth revealed to him, but I believe that he, his institution will achieve peace.”
The Colombian government and the FARC have been involved in peace talks in Cuba since November last year. The talks are the first since 2002 when talks between the rebels and the administration of former President Andres Pastrana failed.