Former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt urged the government to rescue her from Colombian rebels who have held her captive for a year and a half in a videotape aired by local media.
The video, aired on Noticias Uno Saturday night, was the first sign that Betancourt might still be alive since rebels released a different tape in July, 2002.
There was no way of confirming when the tape was made.
"A rescue, yes, definitely, but not just any rescue," said Betancourt, who appeared in good health. "It's important that it be the president who directly makes this decision. I believe it is not a military decision, but a political one."
Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, kidnapped Betancourt and her campaign manager Clara Rojas in February 2002 while the two women were trying to enter FARC-controlled territory in southern Colombia.
Betancourt had not been heard from since rebels released a video in July 2002 in which she urged the government to reopen peace talks. Betancourt and Rojas both appeared tired in that video, which apparently was filmed in May 2002.
Rojas did not appear in Saturday's video.
Betancourt's family members had asked President Alvaro Uribe not to attempt a rescue after the FARC killed 10 other political hostages in a botched rescue attempt by the government in May.
Yolando Pulecio, Betancourt's mother, told The Associated Press Saturday that she fears the possible consequences of a rescue mission.
"She is very brave," Pulecio said. "But to me, as a mother, a rescue terrifies me because her life is very valuable to us."
Betancourt is also a former national senator in Colombia who wrote a memoir that was a best seller in France. She holds joint Colombian-French nationality.
She is one of dozens of political hostages the FARC hopes to exchange for rebels in jail.
In the latest video, Betancourt urged the government to exchange soldiers and police officers being held by the FARC for jailed guerrillas.
"The exchange is the moral obligation of a democratic state," she said.
But as for the civilians being held as political hostages such as herself, twelve state lawmakers and former senators and cabinet ministers -- Betancourt said that remains the FARC's responsibility.
The FARC "must make unilateral gestures of peace -- that is to say, humanitarian liberation," she said.
Colombia is the world's kidnapping capital, with nearly 3,000 people taken hostage each year.
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