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BOGOTA, Colombia - A former presidential candidate held by leftist rebels describes in an emotional letter how she has lost her hair, appetite and hope after nearly six years constantly on the move in Colombia's jungles.
The letter, along with videos released by government officials Friday, were the first evidence in years that Ingrid Betancourt and other rebel-held hostages including three US military contractors may still be alive.
The materials were seized during the arrest in Bogota of three suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
"Here, we are living like the dead," Betancourt writes to her mother. The dual French national was kidnapped in February 2002 while campaigning for the presidency.
An outspoken former lawmaker who was once determined to tackle Colombia's rampant corruption, Betancourt sounds resigned and weakened in the 12-page handwritten letter, which is dated Oct. 24. Excerpts were released to The Associated Press in Paris by people close to her family.
"I no longer have the same strength, it is very difficult for me to continue believing," she writes. "I am not well physically ... My appetite is frozen, my hair is falling out in large quantities."
A short videotape released with the letter shows grainy images of an extremely gaunt Betancourt staring at the ground, rosary in hand.
On Saturday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had been trying to broker a prisoners-for-hostages swap until Colombia's government canceled that role last month, said FARC chief Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda has expressed willingness to free a group of hostages as part of talks with him.
"My visit there would have to be conditioned on the liberation of a first group of people, to begin with, and Marulanda accepted," Chavez said. "I'm sure that was going to happen."
He blamed the US government and President Alvaro Uribe's administration for scuttling that possibility because he claimed they didn't want it to happen.
The Venezuelan leader did not provide specifics to back up the accusation but said Venezuela would still be willing _ even without Uribe's blessing _ to receive any group of hostages freed by the FARC for humanitarian reasons.
It was not clear who the FARC might have been considering freeing from its 46 high-profile hostages, including the Americans and Betancourt.
Each of the three Northrop Grumman Corp. contractors, who have been held since their surveillance plane went down in February 2003 in rebel territory, also appear in videos.
In an interview with the left-wing Bolivarian press agency released Saturday, a FARC commander who calls himself "Ivan Marquez" said the group would not send more proof that the captives are alive anytime soon because it was too risky for the people delivering it.
"Bogota's folly forces the FARC to take drastic actions because it cannot run the risk that other emissaries will be detained," said Marquez, who is also known as Marin Arango.
Marquez had recently met with Chavez in Caracas for talks on a deal that would swap rebel-held hostages for imprisoned rebels. "We are profoundly sorry that all the families won't receive proof of life of their loved ones for Christmas, as we had hoped."
In the letter, Betancourt describes stretching to relieve her sore neck, speaking as little as possible, and says it is a "problem" to be the only woman among several male prisoners, some of whom have been held for a decade.
"Life is not life here, but ... a gloomy waste of time," she writes. "I live, or subsist, on a hammock stretched between two stakes, covered with a mosquito net and with a tarp above."
The families of Betancourt and the other hostages welcomed the proof their loved ones were still alive but expressed frustration at the lack of progress toward their release. Some blamed Uribe, who has said he would prefer to rescue them in military operations.
The U.S., French and Colombian governments had demanded evidence the captives were alive during Chavez's mediation effort to win the release of hostages held by the FARC.
Although it now appears the FARC intended to eventually deliver the material, Uribe abruptly ended Chavez's mediation role on Nov. 21.
The rebel commander, Marquez, confirmed the videos and letters were destined for Chavez. Marquez added: "With Uribe acting this way, there will never be an exchange."
Uribe claimed Chavez had overstepped his bounds by directly contacting the head of Colombia's army.
On Saturday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke by telephone with Uribe and expressed concern about "the obvious precariousness" of Betancourt's health and "about her despair," his office said in a statement. He urged Uribe to act urgently to pursue a hostage swap.
Betancourt's mother, Yolanda Pulecio, told the AP that she did not want the letter released publicly. She said she had received it from the chief prosecutor's office and that its release "violated the family's intimacy."
On Saturday, Pulecio urged Marulanda to free her daughter along with other hostages as means of overcoming the impasse caused by the spat between Chavez and Uribe.
"I ask Marulanda, I beg him: take advantage of this historic opportunity, make a humanitarian gesture, free those whom you have there, the women and children," Pulecio said in between sobs during an interview broadcast on state television in Venezuela.
- AP
