French-Colombian citizen and former hostage Ingrid Betancourt launched her campaign on Thursday for the 2026 legislative elections in Colombia, with a Senate list that includes some of Farc’s victims. Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped in 2002 on a forest road while campaigning for the presidency. He became the most famous figure in the kidnappings carried out by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Since his release in 2008, the 63-year-old politician, who was a member of the Colombian parliament in 1994 and 2001, has remained active in politics. He notably presented himself in the 2022 presidential election as a centrist alternative in a country deeply polarized between the right and left. However, his candidacy was difficult to carry out and he eventually withdrew in favor of an independent candidate. Gustavo Petro wins, becoming the first left-wing president in Colombian history.
Ingrid Betancourt on Thursday announced a list of Senate candidates from her small party Oxigeno, which includes, among others, John Frank Pinchao, a former police officer who was taken hostage, and Deysi Guanaro, a victim of recruitment by Farc when he was a child. Ingrid Betancourt will take tenth place on this list in the March 2026 legislative elections.
Presidential elections in May
In May, presidential elections will take place. President Petro currently does not have the right to run again. Last September, nearly a decade after laying down their arms following a peace agreement signed in 2016, former FARC leaders were found guilty of more than 21,000 kidnappings in half a century of armed conflict.
The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) ordered seven former commanders of this Marxist guerrilla group, which is one of the most powerful guerrilla groups in Latin America, to provide reparations to their victims through actions such as participating in searches for missing persons and demining campaigns.
The court determined that they would be subject to “permanent surveillance using electronic devices.” When she heard the verdict, “I felt angry, I felt insulted, cheated,” Ingrid Betancourt reacted.
A 2016 agreement between the FARC and the state provides alternative sentences to prison for the guerrillas in exchange for laying down their arms, providing reparations for victims, and revealing the truth about the crimes committed.
