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Betancourt not ready to return because of threats

Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was held hostage by leftist rebels for more than six years before her rescue in early July, said on Monday that she was not yet planning to return to Colombia because of death threats issued by her former captors.

“Returning to Colombia is my dream,” Betancourt told Colombia’s Caracol Radio in a telephone interview from New York.

“At this moment I have security difficulties, but I have to solve that in a very intelligent way without running any risks because this is a very sensitive issue for my family,” she said.

The former senator, who was the most high-profile hostage held by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) when she was freed in a military operation by Colombian forces on July 2, said her family had asked her not to return to Colombia because of security concerns.

Betancourt had already said in the past that FARC consider her and the 14 former hostages that were freed along with her as “fugitives.” For this reason, she said she intends to take no risks.

“I have received [threats] and unfortunately it is a complicated situation,” Betancourt said.

Still, Betancourt stressed that she would keep investing her efforts into securing the release of hundreds of other hostages held by FARC.

Betancourt said she does not intend to run for president again in Colombia in 2010.

“It cannot be clearer: I have no intention of doing politics in Colombia, that is, there are many other ways of helping Colombia, even if you can never say never,” she said.

She further thanked Brazil for the proposal that she take over as head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), set to become vacant next year.

UNESCO “is not my top priority either,” Betancourt said.

In related news, a Colombian guerrilla wanted for hundreds of kidnappings and for putting to death two of his high-profile victims was killed by state security forces, the government said on Monday, the latest blow against the rebels.

Even Colombians used to decades of violence were shocked in 2003 when the FARC killed Antioquia governor Guillermo Gaviria and former defense minister Gilberto Echeverry.

Both had been kidnapped by the insurgents and were shot as an army rescue mission approached.

The guerrilla commander who ordered the deaths — Jesus Agudelo, known as “The Paisa” — was killed in a Sunday air force bombing raid near the border of Antioquia and Choco provinces in western Colombia, the government said.

“This is a victory in practical terms because it shows that the government’s infiltration of the FARC in this part of the country has been very effective,” said Cesar Restrepo, an analyst at Bogota think tank Security and Democracy.
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