Son demands freedom for Farc hostage said to be facing death

Published on Wednesday 2 April 2008 22:19

HIGH-PROFILE Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt needs urgent medical treatment, including a blood transfusion within hours, to stay alive, her son declared yesterday.

Lorenzo Delloye said his mother, who has been held by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, for more than six years, is suffering from hepatitis B and a skin disease that necessitated a blood transfusion "in the coming hours" or she could lose her life.

"There's no more time. Either we free mum and the other hostages or we'll lose them, and that's a question of hours," he told reporters at a Paris news conference.

He said Ms Betancourt's health was further complicated by a hunger strike she undertook in February and warned that, knowing her, she would "keep going until the end".

Mr Delloye said he had received the information about his mother's ailing health from a former Farc hostage, Luciano Perez. He said Mr Perez had spent much of his captivity with Ms Betancourt, but did not give any further details, including the date of Perez's last contact with Ms Betancourt.

Mr Delloye also addressed an appeal to Farc leader Manuel Marulanda to act before it's too late.

"Commander Marulanda, the whole world is watching you. It's up to you to decide if you are going to go down as a war criminal who should be treated accordingly, or if you want to go down in (history] books as a man," he said.

He called on world leaders to join president Nicolas Sarkozy in pressing for Ms Betancourt's immediate release, saying the international community also "hold(s] part of the key".

In a televised message on Tuesday, the French leader urged Cmdr Marulanda to free Ms Betancourt – a former candidate for the Colombian presidency, who also holds French citizenship. Mr Sarkozy also announced France would be sending a humanitarian mission to Colombia to save her.

The mission is aimed first at giving her urgent medical care and secondly at trying to win her freedom, Mr Delloye said. He said he hoped the mission would also result in the release of other ill hostages.

French officials have remained tight-lipped about the mission, with Mr Sarkozy's office declining to give any details about its make-up or when it would leave for Colombia.

Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister, said on Wednesday that the mission would leave "as soon as possible."

"We have done everything humanly possible, now we must wait till our special envoys, the doctor, get on the ground," Mr Kouchner said.

In Bogot, Colombia's president Alvaro Uribe said Colombian authorities would suspend military operations in any area where the mission would be travelling, as France requested.

Ms Betancourt's daughter, Melanie Delloye, called the suspension an "important gesture that gives us hope."

"President Uribe is well aware that mum is in a more than alarming physical state," she told France Info radio.