Political Consequences
The liberated Betancourt thanked the Colombian armed forces and President Álvaro Uribe and gave her approval to Uribe's third term as a president. She urged neighbouring presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela) and Correa (Ecuador) to help Colombia and seek the political transformations in her country by democratic means. And she stated that she will dedicate herself now to help those who are still held captive in the jungle. Some believe that the liberation of Betancourt caused a dramatic change of the political scene.
In an interview on French radio shortly after her return to France, Betancourt distanced herself from Uribe's approach, while accepting that his security policy had been successful. She said the situation was at a point where "the vocabulary has to change" arguing that "the way in which we talk about the other side is very important". She has also thanked president Hugo Chávez "for his help in recovering the freedom of many Colombian hostages" during their meeting in Caracas in 2010.
Read more about this topic: Íngrid Betancourt
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or consequences:
“He is unable to take a fact out of its merely political relations, and behold it as it lies absolutely to be disposed of by the intellect,—what, for instance, it behooves a man to do here in America to-day with regard to slavery.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Every expansion of government in business means that government in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors and wrongs is driven irresistibly without peace to greater and greater control of the nation’s press and platform. Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)