Ingrid Betancourt is to return to Colombia shortly to begin work on a play about her harrowing experience being held for six years in the jungle by Marxist rebels.
After receiving a heroine’s reception in France, where she became a cause celebre during her long ordeal, Ms Betancourt told Le Journal du Dimanche: "I shall return to Colombia in a few days. Meanwhile I want to see France, all of France. But I also want to be alone with my children ... I want to give this time to my family, to the father of my children whom I adore, who fought an extraordinary fight for me."
Asked whether she would write a book about her experience, the French-Colombian politician surprised everyone by saying: "I'll write a play."
Despite suffering from ill-health during her captivity, Ms Betancourt got a clean bill of health from doctors examining her for the first time since the operation to rescue her and 14 other hostages from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
"The doctors showered me with good news,” she said after tests at the Val-de-Grace hospital in Paris. “I have had a number of concerns all these years. Now, I'm completely happy."
She said she was "very, very surprised" not to have any physical side-effects after more than six years of captivity.
Doctors have warned of the severe psychological problems that former hostages can suffer. The initial euphoria of freedom, they say, can be followed by long-lasting depression and a lack of self-confidence.
This weekend, Ms Betancourt told how she had already suffered a moment of “dread” in her Paris hotel on Friday night when her son inadvertently turned off the bathroom lights.
"I found myself in the bathroom, without any light, in the pitch black, and I lost track of where I was. I had this dread and told myself 'my God, they're back. The Farc have returned.' I was in a nightmare," she said.
Responding to recent claims by Swiss radio and some French newspapers, Ms Betancourt said she did not believe a ransom had been paid for her freedom or any of the other 14 hostages.
"Enrique", her jailer at the time of her capture, was a man "of special cruelty," she said, recalling his look of horror when he realised he had been tricked into placing his most valuable hostages aboard an army helicopter.
"When I saw him on the ground with his hands and feet tied and his eyes blindfolded, the expression on his face, on his mouth, it was not of someone who had been bought. He was mortified," she said.
After receiving a heroine’s reception in France, where she became a cause celebre during her long ordeal, Ms Betancourt told Le Journal du Dimanche: "I shall return to Colombia in a few days. Meanwhile I want to see France, all of France. But I also want to be alone with my children ... I want to give this time to my family, to the father of my children whom I adore, who fought an extraordinary fight for me."
Asked whether she would write a book about her experience, the French-Colombian politician surprised everyone by saying: "I'll write a play."
Despite suffering from ill-health during her captivity, Ms Betancourt got a clean bill of health from doctors examining her for the first time since the operation to rescue her and 14 other hostages from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
"The doctors showered me with good news,” she said after tests at the Val-de-Grace hospital in Paris. “I have had a number of concerns all these years. Now, I'm completely happy."
She said she was "very, very surprised" not to have any physical side-effects after more than six years of captivity.
Doctors have warned of the severe psychological problems that former hostages can suffer. The initial euphoria of freedom, they say, can be followed by long-lasting depression and a lack of self-confidence.
This weekend, Ms Betancourt told how she had already suffered a moment of “dread” in her Paris hotel on Friday night when her son inadvertently turned off the bathroom lights.
"I found myself in the bathroom, without any light, in the pitch black, and I lost track of where I was. I had this dread and told myself 'my God, they're back. The Farc have returned.' I was in a nightmare," she said.
Responding to recent claims by Swiss radio and some French newspapers, Ms Betancourt said she did not believe a ransom had been paid for her freedom or any of the other 14 hostages.
"Enrique", her jailer at the time of her capture, was a man "of special cruelty," she said, recalling his look of horror when he realised he had been tricked into placing his most valuable hostages aboard an army helicopter.
"When I saw him on the ground with his hands and feet tied and his eyes blindfolded, the expression on his face, on his mouth, it was not of someone who had been bought. He was mortified," she said.
posted by Happo at
10:17 AM
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