The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (known as the
FARC) should immediately release abducted presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt without condition, Human Rights Watch said today.
"The shocking abduction of Ingrid Betancourt, just days after the kidnapping of Senator Jorge Gechem Turbay by the guerrillas, is yet another example of the FARC's persistent, systematic violation of international humanitarian law," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. "The kidnapping of a presidential candidate is a blow to the democratic political process in Colombia."
FARC forces kidnapped Senator Betancourt on February 23, 2002, as she was driving to San Vicente del Caguán in the area formerly ceded to the guerrillas as a safe haven for peace talks. Colombian authorities entered the former guerrilla haven last week to reclaim it, following the hijacking of an airplane and the kidnapping of Senator Gechem Turbay on February 20, 2002, which caused a rupture in the peace negotiations between the government and the FARC. Senator Betancourt has long been a critic of the guerrillas in Colombia.
