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M. Continuo

Colombian hostage says "death seems a sweet option"


    BOGOTA (Reuters) - Seriously ill after six years as a captive in Colombian rebel camps, Ingrid Betancourt believes "death seems like a sweet option," according to new details from a letter to her family.

    Betancourt, who has dual French-Colombian nationality,wrote to her mother, husband and children at the end of lastyear but more details were revealed by Spanish televisionchannel Noticias Cuatro, which had access to the letters.

    Guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombiaor FARC have released six hostages this year in deals brokeredby Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and former captives sayBetancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate, is verysick with liver ailments and depression.

    "I am tired of suffering, of carrying it within meeveryday, of lying to myself and of seeing that every day isthe same hell as the one before," she writes in excerpts fromthe letter published on Noticias Cuatro's Web site.

    "I feel like the life of my children is on standby, waitingfor me to be free and their daily suffering makes death seemlike a sweet option," she wrote.

    Betancourt's husband told Caracol radio in Bogota that theexcepts came from letters she had written to him and which werefound with captured rebels in November as part of a FARCpackage of documents and videos showing hostages in the jungle.

    Betancourt and three U.S. contract workers are among 40high-profile hostages the FARC says it wants to exchange forjailed rebel fighters in a humanitarian accord. Attempts tobroker a broad agreement are stalled.

    Chavez, who says socialism counters U.S. influence, haspersuaded the Marxist-inspired FARC to unilaterally free somehostages in the first releases under Colombian President AlvaroUribe, who is popular for his tough stance against theguerrillas.

    But the Venezuelan leader has angered Washington and Bogotaby calling for more political recognition for the rebels, whoU.S. and European officials label a cocaine-traffickingterrorist group.

    Violence from the four-decade conflict has waned underUribe, who has sent troops to retake parts of the country underthe sway of armed groups. But the FARC still is a potent forcein remote rural areas.

    (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by BillTrott)