Kiwi haven for activist's kids

Melanie, left, and Lorenzo. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The children of a French-Colombian politician who was kidnapped and held hostage in the jungle for six years were sent to New Zealand for their safety, it has been revealed.

The children of anti-corruption activist Ingrid Betancourt - Melanie and Lorenzo Delloye - spent two years living in the Auckland suburb of Glendowie between 1996 and 1998 with their French father Fabrice Delloye, Betancourt's first husband.

The couple had separated in the early 1990s and Betancourt was receiving death threats.

Betancourt, who was captured by Colombian guerrillas in 2002 and chained to a tree by her neck for long periods in the Colombian jungle, flew to Auckland in 1996 to help settle the children in to Churchill Park School which borders the 40ha farm park, Churchill Park.

Betancourt had received death threats after she criticised then Colombian president Ernesto Samper for accepting money from a drug cartel for his electoral campaign.

She arranged for her two children to live in New Zealand with the co-operation of the French government.

Delloye, who is now French Ambassador in Costa Rica, worked as the French trade ambassador in Auckland.

The revelation was made through interviews given to the Herald on Sunday by Betancourt who was speaking about her new book.

She said she needed to find a safe place for her children.

"And New Zealand was that place."

Melanie and Lorenzo, who were 11 and 7 when they arrived in New Zealand, "adored" Auckland, Betancourt said.

"It was the best time of their childhood."

They learned to speak "a beautiful English" at Churchill Park School, she said. Melanie later went on to spend a year at Glendowie College.

Both children stayed in touch with Kiwi friends and have since met up with them overseas, she said.

"New Zealand is paradise for them."