Ingrid Betancourt has been detained by FARC for 4 years now. The campaign is becoming more intense and must continue; freedom of the individual is the basis of our freedom.

FARC rebels in Colombia have held Ingrid Betancourt with her friend Clara Rojas for 1460 days and nights. These numbers, do they still mean something? Do they mean an unbearable wait, the anguish of her family, who has not had 'proof of life' for months and who reel from hope to disappointment and back without ever giving up, each day seeking another way to get support from a Minister, a Deputy, a journalist?

The Law is not in power in Colombia. In this country broken by a civil war, at war with drug traffickers, torn between an intransigent government and bogus revolutionaries who have now switched to selling men, women and children, there is no room for compassion. For four years, the Betancourt family have sought a humanitarian agreement, an exchange of prisoners between the two sides. Without success. The French government, well known celebrities and now some deputies are also trying to put pressure on the Colombian government before the forthcoming presidential elections. So far without success. In France thousands of people, aided by support groups have also mobilised. They march, they demonstrate, launch balloons, in short they do what they can to remind us that this young woman is still held prisoner, down there, in a Colombia that they don’t even know. It would be a mistake to think that this solidarity is naïve, trivial or useless. And for three reasons.

Firstly by supporting again and again Ingrid Betancourt, if only to remember her name, writing it, repeating it, this maintains hope. To be forgotten is worse than being detained. Florence Aubenas told us this: to know that far away, far from deadly oblivion where she had been shut away, people spoke of her, worried about her, struggled for her, this was vital. To maintain, at all costs, the invisible link that connects the hostage with the civilised world was to help her survive.

Secondly, because Ingrid Betancourt has French nationality and because it is one of our first duties in our democracy never to leave any one of our citizens without protection, without assistance or help. And we cannot forget that Ingrid Betancourt has fought for these same values, trying with courage to bring some justice and equality to her other country.

Finally, because by mobilising on behalf of Colombian hostages, we refuse to allow human beings to be treated as objects to be bartered. This means that in our civilised world each individual is important, each life is precious; the freedom of the individual symbolises freedom for all.