Paris, 13/04/02

Official communiqué from the Ingrid Betancourt's Friends Association

More than four month ago, Ingrid was kidnapped, and a liberation campaign was launched. Today, there is a growing number of people like you showing their interest in her case.

Not only do we have to sway opinion in order to free Ingrid and Clara Rojas, and at the same time some 3,000 individuals still in captivity, but we have to stop all the breaches of Human Rights carried out by all the organizations taking part in the Colombian conflict: the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the ELN (Army of National Liberation), the paramilitary forces, and the state of Columbia. All of this, in order to let the rule of law develop in this country.

Ingrid Betancourt's Friends, the Belgian Support Comity, the Ingrid Comity for Peace and Ingrid's family have met and agreed to coordinate the actions you may undertake:

- an international campaign "Ingrid Betancourt, an honorary citizen" by the town councils.
- the sending of petitions to France and Colombia, especially to the press and Colombian media (you will find addresses on the websites).
- the creation of local comities or the registration in existing ones.
- the collection of information visiting www.betancourt.info, and the circulation of this information.

Of course, every initiative and other kind of action are welcomed.
It is all the more important that the Colombian public opinion should know about our international action. However, we are aware that the Colombian media, which have constantly discriminated Ingrid, will not promote this campaign spontaneously.
Therefore, we have to publish paying communiqués and we will need your participation over the next few days. (You will find the methods of payment on the following website: ingridbetancourt.com on the web page: cash donations or directly through the link:
:www.ingridbetancourt.com/pages/dons.htm.

All the details as for the involvement in the different actions are to be found on the website:
www.betancourt.info.


The Association office


Do not hesitate to forward this message in order to make our fight well-known. Finally, some useful websites


Finally, some useful websites

www.ingridbetancourt.com (site officiel d'Ingrid)
www.betancourt.info (site d'information)
http://www.educweb.org/Ingrid/Fr/ComitesListe.htm (liste des comités dans le monde)

http://www.4ingrid.com (site du comité canadien)