Betancourt tirelessly campaigns to free the rest of the hostages

PARIS (AP) — Freedom tastes sweet, and Ingrid Betancourt is lapping it up with the same drive and determination that kept her alive in the Colombian jungle for six years, sometimes chained to a tree.

Five days after being rescued along with three Americans and 11 Colombians and three days after coming to France, Betancourt, who has dual nationality, is ebullient and tireless.

She is meeting with officials, a former professor, clinching a deal to write a play and giving interviews nonstop.

The 46-year-old, who was a cause c l ®bre in France as a captive, is a hero today, portrayed as an icon of courage and an inspiration.

It was the French campaign to free Betancourt, captured while campaigning for Colombia’s presidency in 2002, that drew international attention to the hundreds of hostages held by leftist rebels. Freed, Betancourt is keeping up the drumbeat.

She has addressed two radio messages to hostages still held by leftist insurgents and on Monday advised President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia to tone down the “radical, extremist language of hate” toward her former captors. The 15 hostages were freed in a military operation that tricked their captors, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

“I feel that I owe so much ...,” Betancourt told the French magazine Pelerin when asked why she accepts so many interview requests. “I owe so much to the love of all for being here that I’m not able to say no.”