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October 13, 2008 2:11:11 PM CDT

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Captors Turned Brutal After Betancourt Escape Attempt

Posted Jul 7, 08 12:50 PM CDT in World 

(Newser) – Ingrid Betancourt and the other former hostages of Colombia’s FARC faced aggression and abuse from their captors—and each other, CNN reports. Rebels were relatively cordial until Betancourt and former Colombian legislator Luis Perez made an escape attempt in 2005, surviving for 5 days in the jungle before they gave up.

"When we handed ourselves in, then there was absolute repression by the guerrillas," Perez tells CNN. Hostages, who had been chained only at night, were subsequently chained by the throat 24 hours a day—to trees, at first, then to other hostages. And their boots were taken away, causing their feet to rot. Friction mounted, he said, and some hostages protected Betancourt from aggression by others.

Source CNN

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Ingrid Betancourt gestures before her radio address to hostages in Spanish on RFI (Radio France International), Monday July 7, 2008 in Paris. Betancourt, freed from six years of captivity in a Colombian...   (AP Photo)
Ingrid Betancourt is seen before her radio address to hostages in Spanish on RFI (Radio France International), Monday July 7, 2008 in Paris.   (AP Photo)
In this frame grab from a video released by Colombia's Army taken on July 2, 2008 and released on July 4, 2008, U.S. hostage Keith Stansell, left, is seen with his hands tied together during a Colombian...   (AP Photo/Colombian Army)
Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, right, hugs French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as she arrives at Villacoublay air base, outside Paris, Friday July 4, 2008. The dual French-Colombian citizen was freed...   (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)
In this frame grab from a video released by Colombia's Army, Ingrid Betancourt, is seen, her hands tied together, with unidentified hostages during a Colombian military mission that rescued them.   (AP Photo/Colombian Army)
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Colombia  • FARC  • Ingrid Betancourt  • Colombian rebels


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