Alexandre Kaufmann

After the return of Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot the tragedy of the hostages continues with the disappearance in Iraq of journalist, Florence Aubenas and her driver Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi. But another French woman is still held captive. The Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) kidnapped Ingrid Betancourt on 23 February 2002, with her friend and director of elections Clara Rojas.

There has been no official news of them since August 2002 but it is thought that they are in good health, as it is in their captors' interests to keep them alive so as to use them as bargaining tools. With regard to the negotiations, these are still deadlocked. A "humanitarian exchange" has been proposed by President Alvaro Uribe, but on condition that the freed guerrillas would not rejoin the 17000-strong FARC army.

FARC will not agree to this. As well, the mere idea of such a swap is controversial because it involves the exchange of innocent victims of kidnapping and hostage taking for rebels found guilty by official Colombian courts. Besides, in one of the videos shown by FARC in 2002, Ingrid Betancourt declared that a humanitarian exchange should only involve fighters and that civilians ought to be released voluntarily by FARC.

However, according to Miguel Gomez-Martinez, the Colombian Ambassador to Paris, "it would be easier to release hostages in Iraq than to have anything to do with FARC". It is known that the latter has the experience, the infrastructure and the necessary capabilities to hold hostages on a long-term basis and that they do not need ransoms as drug trafficking earns them enough finance.

But above all, the former student of Political Science is an absolute godsend: according to Roberta Granda, the recently captured spokesperson of FARC, Ingrid's French nationality and the media publicity in Europe make her a " wonderful and exceptional" asset for FARC.

So, again, according to Miguel Gomez-Martinez, "the huge interest of the media in France has to a certain degree been useful to FARC, by making them aware of the value of their prisoner". Another problem has this time been raised by public opinion in Colombia. How to justify the freeing of Ingrid Betancourt as an individual over and above another innocent hostage?