Colombia's interior minister said Monday that kidnapped former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was in good health, reopening a national debate over freeing thousands being held captive by mostly leftist rebels.

Carlos Holguin told Caracol Radio that according to reports from intelligence and diplomatic sources Betancourt was alive and well. The dual French-Colombian citizen has been held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for five years and rumors of ill health and even death have swirled.

Betancourt's mother, however, said she feared the government was planning a military rescue of her daughter - a move that in the past has led leftist rebels to immediately kill hostages.

"What terrifies me is that the government may know where Ingrid is and will launch a rescue mission," Yolanda Pulecio said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Families of those kidnapped oppose military rescues, arguing leftist rebels have killed hostages during suspected rescue missions and that their loved ones could be killed in a crossfire.

The families support an exchange in which some 500 imprisoned rebels would be freed in exchange for about 60 prominent hostages, including Betancourt and three kidnapped U.S. defense contractors.

The issue of freeing the hostages was reignited recently when a military attack on a guerrilla camp allowed the former minister of development, Fernando Araujo, to escape after six years in the rebels' hands.