Two nations rejoice over Ingrid Betancourt's rescue

Ingrid Betancourt is a rare politician whose personal ordeal made her a heroine in two countries, a charismatic idealist whose endurance through six years of captivity created a shared sympathy between her native Colombia and France, where she grew up and held dual citizenship.

News that Betancourt had been rescued from her Marxist-rebel captors sparked celebrations in both countries. For Colombians, who knew her as a voice bravely demanding an end to endemic kidnappings, the years spent in chains at the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had transformed her from a marginal presidential candidate into a symbol of the suffering inflicted by drug- fueled violence.

"For Colombians, [her captivity] was an open wound," said Jaime Abello, executive director of the Foundation for a New Iberoamerican Journalism, founded by Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. "It was as if they had captured someone like Obama or Hillary and held them, for years, in terrible conditions."

Colombia's joy over her release was matched in France, where Betancourt's portrait hangs from banners at city halls across the country. Betancourt, the daughter of a Colombian diplomat and a former Miss Colombia, grew up in France, becoming a notable figure among the left-wing intelligentsia of Paris. She derived her French citizenship from her first marriage, to Fabrice Delloye, a diplomat.

The French public followed the dashed hopes and despair that marked her imprisonment: the failed rescue attempts, hunger strikes and, in recent months, alarm over reports that she was in failing health and increasingly depressed.

But Betancourt's hold on the French psyche went beyond citizenship. A dark-haired beauty who appeared unafraid to challenge Colombia's forces of corruption, she launched a strident campaign for president in 2002.

Her daring political style -- and the terrible consequences that followed her decision to wade unguarded into the Colombian jungle in pursuit of her ideals -- personified much of the French self-image.

"It's like a great French romance novel with all the elements of adventure and politics and a beautiful woman," said Bertrand Vannier, a senior correspondent for Radio France.

Vannier credited Betancourt's former husband and two children who live in Paris with keeping her cause in the public eye, engaging France in a campaign to free her.