Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, who has been a FARC hostage for six years, is running for president in May. She wants reconciliation and an end to the violence in the war-torn country.
Betancourt became a symbol of Colombia’s war brutality in the 2000s, as well as a symbol of the country’s attempts at reconciliation, he writes. New York times.
“Today I’m here to finish what I started with many of you in 2002. I’m here to represent the 51 million Colombians who are not getting justice because we live in a system designed to reward criminals,” Betancourt said at the time. nominated.
– My story is the same as all Colombians. While my colleagues and I were chained around my neck, Colombian families were shackled by corruption, violence and injustice, she said.
Betancourt is running for the environmental party Green Oxygen, which she co-founded in 1998.
In 2002, Betancourt was kidnapped by left-wing FARC fighters during their election campaign, and It wasn’t released until six years later in 2008.
She herself has spoken in several books about the brutal treatment she received, and that she has tried to escape many times.
political deadlock
The government and FARC fighters signed a peace agreement in 2016 after more than 50 years of fighting. For the conciliatory streak, the parties won the Peace Prize in 2016. However, a number of guerrilla groups have filled the violence vacuum at that time since then and have continued to fight.
In a country of 50 million people, nine million people have been registered as victims of the conflict by the authorities, according to the New York Times.
Critics say the government has not done enough to deal with the inequality and poverty that drove the conflict, as promised in the peace agreement.
Many Colombians are tired of the political deadlock. Frustration then surfaced, among other things Thousands took to the streets For more than a month to show his displeasure last spring, a situation also exacerbated by the pandemic. It could pave the way for the opposition.
Atonement balm
Can Ingrid be a moisturizer for those fighting the negative emotions we feel right now? asks political analyst Sergio Guzman who lives in Bogota.
He told the New York Times that her campaign would provide answers. Betancourt intervenes late in the election campaign, several months later than all the other candidates. Guzman refers to the campaign as “Hail Mary,” a term used for one last, desperate attempt. Election day is May 29.
The question is what Colombians want: the continuation of entrenched left-wing populism – or reconciliation.
Betancourt should promote the idea that reconciliation is better than populism, according to Guzman.
All our choices were fear, hope and hate. No elections were held on the basis of mercy and reconciliation
to retreat
There are more than 20 candidates in the elections. The political part is roughly divided into three. The two ruling parties and President Evan Duque represent the right and the founders. The populist left is led by Gustavo Petro, formerly mayor of the capital, Bogota. It is driving opinion polls and has increased people’s frustration with corruption and inequality.
Betancourt belongs to the city center wing, but there are also many other candidates here: she has not actually won in any way, although she is a very famous person.
Critics say it arrived too late to make any particular difference, while others believe it makes the downtown option more attractive to voters.
First, you must win during the primary in March. There she is fighting, among other things, another centre-right candidate, former Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria.
Betancourt largely withdrew from the public eye after her release and spent most of her time with her family in France, he wrote. AP . news agency. She returned to Colombian politics last year.
We have a window, an opportunity that comes once in a generation, to leave behind the cruel violence we have experienced all our lives. “I want us to open that window and let the light in,” she said in an interview with the New York Times last year.
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