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RIGHTS: Betancourt Wants Political Niche for Guerrillas

Sabina Zaccaro

ROME, Sep 5 2008 (IPS) - Resolution of the conflict in Colombia can only come through "dialogue and openness," says Ingrid Betancourt, the former presidential candidate held hostage by leftist guerrillas for more than six years before being rescued by the Colombian military in July.

Opening a "political niche" to guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), where they can act "in a scheme of political legitimacy" could help progress in achieving peace, she says.

Betancourt's four-day visit to Italy this week was highlighted by a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, something she had "been dreaming throughout all the period of captivity."

She had declared immediately after her release that she wanted to meet the Pope to thank him for his prayers and for his public appeals for her release.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio that the meeting was "very emotional." Her years as a prisoner were "a time of great spiritual experience, of prayer, and so she really wanted to tell the Holy Father about the importance faith played in sustaining her during that very difficult period," Father Lombardi said.

Betancourt said she is also thankful to all of Italy for support through the period of captivity.

But she used her visit mainly to reiterate a call for dialogue between government and guerrilla forces, which she said are in a kind of "autistic attitude, they are only able to listen to themselves."

Addressing her kidnappers directly, she said: "After almost seven years, I can say I know you, I know your organisation, your ideas, your objectives." The world, she said, is inviting them to open their hearts "to something more than political and military calculations," and to "make room for peace in your minds."

And peace can come only "through the way of democracy, mutual respect and law," she said. She asked the Colombian government to recognise the political role of the FARC, "knowing that we are different, and have different ideas."

Ingrid Betancourt spoke also about her political and personal plans. "The truth is that after seven years as a victim of tyranny and war, my life's perspective has changed," she told reporters, her eyes lowered most of the time, and in a voice often breaking with emotion.

"Things that used to be important no longer are; at this moment I only feel the need to speak for those who can't, first of all for those still in the hands of the FARC, people I know very well, and who are suffering."

She said her priority is to work for the liberation of other hostages in Colombia and around the world. "I no longer have ambitions for a political career in Colombia. Perhaps in the future I will think about it, but I don't believe my place is in the political arena at this moment."

Referring to reports of her joining the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), she said "it would be a great honour for me to work for UNESCO, but there are people who are more qualified than I am."

Her priority, she said, is "to build up a group of people that can help me to achieve my mission: to alleviate the pain of those who are still prisoner, to make people aware."

Her own story shows, she added, that talking about the victims of terror can save lives. "During my imprisonment, globalisation to me meant knowing that people in the whole world were asking for my release."

Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Rome province, said Italy is supporting her candidature for the Nobel Peace Price. "Because Ingrid has won her battle in the name of democracy and freedom, and gives the world a message of hope," Zingaretti told IPS. "With her liberation, the cause of peace and justice has won."

The municipality of Rome conferred honorary citizenship to Betancourt in 2003. Under former mayor Walter Veltroni, the city led many public initiatives for her release.

A day before Betancourt's arrival in Italy, the daily La Repubblica reported that a Colombian government dossier would accuse Italy's Refounded Communist Party (Rifondazione Comunista) of links with the FARC, included fundraising for it.

The revelation allegedly emerged from e-mails on a laptop belonging to FARC commander Raul Reyes, who was killed in March in a Colombian military raid.

Ramon Mantovani, in charge of the party's foreign affairs section, said the party's contacts with FARC are well known. "The position of my party is that Colombia needs peace talks, and all the contacts between us and FARC are addressed to give our contribution to rebuilding a peace process in Colombia," he told IPS.

Mantovani said his party will keep campaigning for peace in Colombia, and seek the "politically negotiated resolution of an armed conflict that has been staining Colombia with blood for too many years."