Footage shows Ingrid Betancourt alive

The Colombian government broadcast videos on Friday of kidnapped

politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans in the first proof

since 2003 that the high-profile rebel hostages were still alive.

The videos, which also showed Colombian military officers

kidnapped by guerrillas, were confiscated from three suspected

rebels captured in Bogota and included images from October,

Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said.

 

Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen and former

presidential candidate captured in 2002, and the Americans are

among the most well-known captives held by the Revolutionary

Armed Forces of Colombia rebels waging Latin America’s oldest

insurgency.

 

“In a Colombian army operation against the FARC’s urban

networks, three people were captured and in their possession

was found proof of life of a group of kidnap victims,” said

Restrepo.

 

Brief clips of the videos broadcast by local television

showed images of Betancourt sitting in jungle surroundings and

the Americans. U.S. contractors Thomas Howes, Marc Gonsalves

and Keith Stansell were snatched by the FARC when their

aircraft crashed on a counter-narcotics mission.

 

Source: France24