Ex-hostage aims to disarm rebels; some
see only her ambition
AFP Nov 30, 08 6:04 PM CST
(Newser)
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Former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt returned to Colombia yesterday to kick off a tour aimed at getting the rebels to disarm, AFP reports. "I am so very happy to be here," said Betancourt, who has received death threats from FARC and will keep her Colombia visit brief. She met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and is slated to meet Brazil's president on Friday.
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But president links Detroit aid to Dem backing for Colombia free trade pact
New York Times Nov 11, 08 3:53 AM CST
(Newser)
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Barack Obama urged President Bush during their White House meeting yesterday to extend emergency aid to the auto industry, the New York Times reports. The president indicated that he might be willing to approve Detroit aid and a broader economic stimulus package—but only on the condition that the president-elect and congressional Democrats drop their long-standing opposition to a free trade deal with Colombia.
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Ex-hostage thanks pontiff for support during 7-year captivity
Reuters Sep 1, 08 2:54 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Ingrid Betancourt realized her dreams today when she met privately with Pope Benedict, Reuters reports. The freed French-Colombian hostage says she was overcome with emotion after hearing the pope appeal for her release on the radio during her 7 years in captivity. The 46-year-old Catholic had never read the Bible—"a dusty old book"—before being abducted, but it is now her "instruction manual for happiness."
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Objects to symbol use in hostage rescue
BBC Aug 6, 08 3:14 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The Red Cross chided the Colombian government today for its "deliberate misuse" of the Red Cross symbol during a mission to rescue hostages, the BBC reports. “If authenticated, these images would clearly establish an improper use of the Red Cross emblem, which we deplore,” a spokesman said of footage from the July 2 mission that freed politician Ingrid Betancourt and 14 others.
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Cities across the globe show support for captives
AFP Jul 20, 08 6:50 PM CDT
(Newser)
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More than a million people marched in Bogota, Columbia and other world capitals today demanding the freedom of captives held hostage by leftist rebels in the Columbian jungle, AFP reports. Recently liberated captive Ingrid Betancourt led chants of "No More hostages" in Paris on Columbia's independence day, as famous musicians from across the globe staged a concert there.
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Drug-makers are destroying Colombia's precious rainforest
Christian Science Monitor Jul 19, 08 5:28 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Colombia is adding a new tactic in its campaign to persuade Americans to stop buying cocaine: a plea for the environment. The government wants to spread the message to users—especially, say, wealthy professionals who dutifully recycle but also partake of the drug—that cocaine growers are running roughshod over the land, the Christian Science Monitor reports. They've cleared 5 million acres of forest in the last 20 years and are now moving into the Amazon.
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Crew says it was forced to pilot makeshift vessel
Associated Press Jul 17, 08 9:00 AM CDT
(AP)
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Mexico's navy seized a homemade submarine carrying a drug shipment off the Pacific coast yesterday and arrested its four-man crew. The 30-foot makeshift vessel was detected heading north about 200 miles off the southern state of Oaxaca, and intercepted when it surfaced. The crew offered no resistance, and say drug lords forced them to make the journey.
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Captives chained by the neck
CNN Jul 11, 08 3:48 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Three freed American hostages who spent more than five years as captives of Colombian guerrillas paint a harrowing picture of their treatment in a CNN interview. Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes, rescued last week, spent much of their time in captivity chained by the neck, and were subjected to forced marches, harsh conditions and constant threats, they report.
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Death was her 'constant companion'
in 6-year ordeal
CNN Jul 10, 08 6:09 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt lived in "soul hell" for years in captivity under a constant threat of death, she said in a riveting interview on CNN's Larry King Live . "I lived for nearly seven years with the awareness that death was my everyday companion," she said. "It was hell. It was hell for the body, it was hell for the soul, it was hell for the mind."
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Lecompte says love might have died in 6-year internment
Associated Press Jul 9, 08 2:03 PM CDT
(AP)
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The husband of rescued Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt says their marriage may be over. In an interview with the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo, Juan Carlos Lecompte acknowledges what many noted when the two reunited in front of TV cameras after last week's rescue—Betancourt greeted him coldly.
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Abductees, rescuers become hot properties for book, movie deals
Variety Jul 8, 08 6:42 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Film projects revolving around last week’s rescue of 15 FARC prisoners are already taking shape, Variety reports. Rumors abound about rights deals and production agreements. Although not everyone is convinced that the bloodless rescue is dramatic enough material for a box office blockbuster, "it's as memorable as Entebbe, the Hindenburg disaster, or other huge events that stay with us," one producer says.
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US contractors rescued from Colombian rebels speak to press
CNN Jul 8, 08 10:15 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Speaking to the media for the first time since his rescue Wednesday, a former FARC captive warned that remaining hostages would face retribution over the escape, CNN reports. “Right now, they're being punished because we got rescued,” said US government contractor Marc Gonsalves. They’ll be made to don heavy backpacks and “forced to march with a chain around their neck while a guerrilla with an automatic weapon is holding the other end.”
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Hostages, chained together, also hostile
CNN Jul 7, 08 12:50 PM CDT
(Newser)
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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.
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Politician's Colombia drama will show what people 'need to feel'
BBC Jul 6, 08 7:27 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Ingrid Betancourt’s ordeal in Colombia will soon hit a stage near you, the BBC reports. The French-Colombian politician, sprung last week from 6 years of captivity, will pen a play based on her experiences. “People need to understand this, but I can't just write it down the way it happened,” she said, insisting a book wouldn’t work for the project.
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