Former FARC hostage Ingrid
Betancourt’s divorce turns ugly. Lawyers name “infidelity, insults and alleged drug abuse” as reasons for the separation, local and international media reported.
Betancourt filed a divorce from publicist
Juan Carlos Lecompte in March this year and argued that they had been ‘bodily
separated’ for more than six years.
Lecompte’s lawyers rejected the demand and argued
that such a separation was not voluntary, but was forced by the
kidnapping of the former presidential candidate – who has both
Colombian and French citizenship – by the leftist Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Lecompte himself filed for divorce, based on reports that
Betancourt was unfaithful to him during her captivity. As evidence,
they cite the book “Out Of Captivity”, written by US contractors Thomas
Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves, who were held by FARC at the
same time as Betancourt.
The three defence contractors said
in the book that the former presidential candidate was in a
relationship with fellow-hostage Luis Eladio Perez, a former senator,
who was released by FARC just over a year ago.
The divorce process “is a discussion of dignity”. “After Lecompte offered exchange for his wife and after he tatoed her face on his shoulder, the only thing he received from [Betancourt] after her rescue […] was ungratefulness”, Caras magazine reported.
Moreover Lecompte felt that he had been exposed to public humiliation after the information of Betancourt’s infidelity had been published, Caras magazine added.
Betancourt named as reasons for the divorce that Lecompte also had been unfaithful to her when she was in FARC captivity and argued that her husband allegedly used hallucinogenic substances. She, too, cited as evidence the book “Out of Captivity”, which reports a supposed romance of Lecompte with a Mexican journalist.
Betancourt –
the most high-profile hostage ever held by FARC – was kidnapped on
February 23, 2002, and she was freed in a Colombian Army operation on
July 2, 2008 along with the three US contractors and 11 Colombian
military and police officers.