Former Congresswoman and Hostage Ingrid Betancourt to Run for President in Colombia
Ingrid Betancourt, former congresswoman and guerilla captive, announces her campaign for the presidency of Colombia. Source: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters
In 2002, Ingrid Betancourt was taken hostage as a political prisoner by Colombia’s largest guerilla group known as the FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia; in January, nearly 20 years later, she announced her campaign to become the first female president of Colombia.
Born in 1961, Betancourt is no stranger to the political world. The daughter of a Colombian politician and activist, Betancourt began serving her country as a congresswoman in 1994. In 2002, she announced her campaign for presidency as an anti-corruption pacifist. Her campaign ended when, in February of the same year, she was captured by the FARC at a roadblock. Betancourt details her treatment as a captive and multiple escape attempts in her memoir, “Even Silence Has an End.” Eventually, Betancourt was freed by the Colombian government after six years in captivity. Now, almost two decades later, Betancourt has returned to finish what she started. In her announcement, Betancourt said, “While the FARC enslaved me and my companions, the drug cartels, violent groups and corrupt politicians enslaved each of you. We are going to leave behind this culture of mafias, violence and lies, and we are going to learn again to be free citizens.”
Betancourt, should she win, will be tasked with uniting a country plagued by unrest and political turmoil. Prior to 2016, Colombia’s government and the FARC had been at war for almost 50 years over disagreements about economic redistribution and foreign investment in the country. FARC, a left-wing organization, wants to redistribute wealth as a means of decreasing inequality and believes that foreign investment hurts rather than helps Colombia. Ultimately, both groups signed a peace treaty in 2016 that has seen the FARC begin to disarm. However, the treaty has also created a power vacuum, leading to more violence as other groups try to fill the space left by the FARC. Fed up with violence and corruption, Colombians seem eager for a change to the political status quo, and Betancourt is responding by campaigning as the “reconciliation” candidate.
Betancourt’s path to the presidency will not be an easy one. More than 20 candidates have entered the race so far, splitting into three coalitions: the left, the center, and the right. Betancourt has entered the primaries as a candidate of the center. If she moves forward after the primaries in May, she will likely face current front-runner and left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro as well as a right-wing candidate from the current government.
As a victim of the war between the Colombian government and the FARC, Betancourt’s experiences and message will resonate with many Colombians, as almost 20% of the country’s population is registered as conflict victims. However, Betancourt has faced criticism for her behavior after being rescued from captivity. In 2010, she sued the Colombian government for $6.8 million for her capture but was ultimately forced to drop the suit after backlash. Some Colombians have argued that the use of her personal experience as a captive has taken attention away from poorer, lesser-known victims of the war. Betancourt’s opponents will likely revive these criticisms against her while also highlighting that she has lived in France for years, only just returning to Colombia to begin her campaign.
Betancourt’s campaign is ultimately set to shake up the race for presidency in Colombia by adding another potential first female to the list of candidates as well as one who represents the almost nine million registered conflict victims living in Colombia. However, with her late entrance to the race combined with Petro’s soaring popularity and a left-wing surge across many Latin American countries, Betancourt will have to convince Colombians to vote for her with sound policy proposals on how to keep her promises to fight corruption and reconcile the country. Most importantly, the next President of Colombia must ensure that they address the inequality that originally led to conflict, as a failure to do so could cause a resurgence in violence across the country.