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UNCLAS BOGOTA 003909 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR FR CO
SUBJECT: BOGOTA NOMINATES INGRID BETANCOURT FOR THE 2009 
SECRETARY'S AWARD FOR WOMEN OF COURAGE 
 
REF: STATE 99729 
 
¶1. Embassy Bogota nominates Ingrid Betancourt for the 2009 
Secretary's Award for Women of Courage. 
 
¶2. Below are the requested details (see reftel) for the 
nomination: 
 
Full Legal Name of Nominee: Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio 
Job Title/Association: Activist 
Date of Birth: 25 December 1961 
Country of Birth: Colombia 
Citizenship: Colombian/French 
Address: France 
Telephone: N/A 
Email: N/A 
Passport Number: PO024432 (expired) 
 
Note: We have been notified by the Committee in Support of 
Ingrid Betancourt that they are not allowed to provide her 
personal email and telephone.  They provided the name and 
email of her personal assistant, Marie Duval, 
marieduvalgreen@gmail.com, who would coordinate Betancourt's 
travel plans. 
 
Justification: 
 
After being held hostage for more than six years in the 
Colombian jungle, Ingrid Betancourt has become a worldwide 
symbol of freedom and human resistance in the face of severe 
hardship.  Her struggle in favor of democracy has been an 
encouraging example of dignity and valor.  Even before her 
harrowing ordeal of being held hostage for more than six 
years by the vicious terrorist group the Revolutionary Armed 
Forces of Colombia (FARC), Betancourt was a staunch supporter 
of human rights, anti-corruption, democracy promotion, and 
peace in Colombia.  Since her rescue from captivity on July 
2, 2008, she continues to work to encourage peace and 
national reconciliation efforts in Colombia as an 
international activist based in France. 
 
Throughout her life, Ingrid Betancourt has striven to promote 
human rights and peace. Her political career commenced in 
1994, when she stood for parliament as a candidate for the 
governing Liberal Party.  In public service, she focused on 
fostering democracy and social justice, as well as fighting 
corruption, drug trafficking and violence.  She abandoned the 
Liberal Party in 1998 due to then-President Ernesto Samper's 
receipt of campaign funds from narcotraffickers and ran for 
the Senate on the Green Oxygen Party ticket.  She resigned 
office to stand in the presidential elections for the New 
Colombia Movement in 2002, the year in which she was 
kidnapped by the FARC along with her campaign manager and 
running mate, Clara Rojas. Rojas was freed by the FARC on 
January 10, 2008. 
 
She wrote two books during her period in public service: "Si 
Sabia" ("Yes He Knew" which was published in 1996) about the 
funding of President Samper's presidential campaign by the 
Cali Cartel, and an autobiography, "La Rabia en el Corazon," 
which was published in 2001, (in English as "Until Death Do 
Us Part: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia"), in which she 
criticized the widespread corruption among Colombia's 
political elite.  She has also published a collection of her 
letters to her mother from captivity.  Her kidnapping led to 
strong public responses and calls for solidarity and freedom 
throughout the world. 
 
Currently based in Paris, France, Betancourt remains an 
international activist focused on seeking peaceful 
resolutions to the conflict in Colombia.  She continues to 
urge the FARC to free the hundreds of remaining hostages they 
hold captive, and has also called on the FARC and the 
Government of Colombia to find a negotiated and lasting 
solution to end Colombia's 44 year-old conflict.  She is 
calling for a national march in Colombia on November 28 in 
honor of the remaining hostages.  On October 24, Betancourt 
received in Spain the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for 
Concord for promoting understanding between people around the 
world.  In her acceptance speech, she called on the 
international community to continue its support for a 
peaceful resolution of the conflict in Colombia.  She has 
been named an Honorary Citizen of more than a thousand cities 
in over twenty countries. She also received France's 
 
prestigious Legion d'Honneur and was nominated for the Nobel 
Peace Prize. 
 
¶3. Ms. Betancourt was notified of her nomination on October 
24 by Embassy Paris via a letter from Ambassador Craig 
Stapleton and we plan to follow up with her this week to 
verify her willingness to travel to Washington in March 2009 
if she is chosen. 
BROWNFIELD