Betancourt Won't Sue Colombia Gov't

[Judi Lynn]

BOGOTA, Colombia July 12, 2010
Betancourt Won't Sue Colombia Gov't
Ex-hostage Betancourt Says She Won't Sue Colombia's Gov't For Damages Over Her Hostage Ordeal

(AP) Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt said Sunday that she has no intention of suing Colombia's government for damages for the more than six years she spent as a hostage of leftist rebels.

Betancourt's statement came two days after it was disclosed she filed a damages request with the government seeking $6.8 million for her suffering during captivity.

Colombians reacted angrily to the announcement, calling Betancourt ungrateful. Their military rescued her and 14 others - including three U.S. military contractors - in July 2008.

Sounding apologetic, the 48-year-old Betancourt stressed during a Sunday television interview that she did not plan to sue the government.

But she also blamed the government for her kidnapping. She said it pulled her bodyguards - she was a presidential candidate - and denied her a helicopter that would have let her avoid the rebel-controlled road where she was seized.

More:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/11/world/main6669014.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombia accused of negligence over kidnap

Last Updated: Monday, July 12, 2010, 06:45
Colombia accused of negligence over kidnap

Colombia's government took Ingrid Betancourt's bodyguards away as she was about to drive into a jungle area filled with guerrillas, the former hostage said yesterday, outlining the reasons for her multimillion-dollar demand against the state.

The one-time presidential candidate, held in rebel camps from early 2002 to mid 2008 when she was freed in a military rescue, outraged Colombians on Friday when it came out that she is suing the state for $6.8 million in damages.

She played that down in a television interview yesterday, saying the money was "symbolic." But she insisted the state failed to protect her while she was running for president.

Ms Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after being warned by state security officials not to go to the southern town of San Vicente del Caguan, where she was captured by the rebels.

She says that the government, by stripping her of her security detail and not stopping her from making the trip, set her up to be kidnapped.

"They took my bodyguards from me and let me continue by road," Ms Betancourt (48) told Caracol television. "They did not meet their responsibility to protect me as a presidential candidate ... I was not irresponsible."

More:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0712/breaking3.html

[CJvR]

2. LOL!

Take you claims to FARC Betty, go without a security detail to deliver them.

[Bacchus39]

3. yep, her claims are with the FARC and see nothing wrong with the government giving

her compensation from seized FARC assets. not from the Colombian government though.