page_title: Íngrid Betancourt
section_title: Reunion and celebration
hierarchical_section_title: Íngrid Betancourt / Reunion and celebration
caption_attribution_description: English: Íngrid Betancourt at a Hudson Union Society event in September 2010.
context_page_description: Íngrid Betancourt Pulecio is a Colombian politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist, especially opposing political corruption.
  Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on 23 February 2002 while campaigning for the Colombian presidency as a Green candidate, and was rescued by Colombian security forces six and a half years later on 2 July 2008. The rescue operation, dubbed Operation Jaque, rescued Betancourt along with 14 other hostages. She had decided to campaign in the former "zone of dissention", after the military operation "Tanatos" was launched, and after the zone was declared free of guerrillas by the government. Her kidnapping received worldwide coverage, particularly in France, where she also held citizenship due to her prior marriage to a French diplomat.
  Betancourt has received multiple international awards in 2008 at her liberation, such as the Légion d'honneur or the Concord Prince of Asturias Award. After her release, she was portrayed by some of her fellow captives as "controlling and manipulative"; others described her as "caring" and "courageous". One of them claims Betancourt saved his life.
context_section_description: Sarkozy sent a French Air Force jet with Betancourt's children, her sister Astrid and her family, and accompanied by Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner for a tearful reunion. After paying her respects at her father's tomb she and the family boarded the jet and flew to France where she was greeted by Sarkozy and the First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. She gave speeches and urged the world not to forget and continue for the liberation of the rest of the hostages. She also spent several days in hospital.
  On 9 July, President Michelle Bachelet of Chile said she would nominate Betancourt for a Nobel Prize. Nicolas Sarkozy announced that she would receive the Legion of Honor at the Bastille Day celebrations.
  On 20 July, Betancourt appeared next to singer Juanes at a rally in Trocadéro in Paris to celebrate Colombia's independence day and to once more urge the FARC to release all their hostages. Speaking directly to Alfonso Cano she said:
  See this Colombia, see the extended hand of President Uribe, and understand that it is time to stop the bloodshed. It is time to drop those weapons and change them for roses, substitute them with tolerance, respect, and as brothers that we are, find a way so that we can all live together in the world, live together in Colombia."
caption: Betancourt in September 2010
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