Ingrid

The news about the super-famous ex-hostage, Ingrid Betancourt can't but raise eyebrows across the globe. French-Colombian politician, presidential candidate of said country, she gained notoriety due to her kidnapping by the FARC in February 23rd, 2002. The big boom regarding her - and her hostage mates, as they seem to be swallowed by oblivion - came, however in 2008, after 6 years in the hands of the FARC, when her case became much more present in the media. Foreing Governments, including the French Government, lead by Nicholas Sarkozy, moved the chips and pressed all the needed buttons to work on her release.

The press, including fashion magazines were filled with heart clutching pictures of the thin, pale, hopeless woman of long hair sitting sadly on a bench in the middle of nowhere. Such pictures, and the detail of her story fed the emotions of millions, billions of people who cheered along with friends and family when, in July 2nd, 2008 she was finally released. Tears of joy and emotion swelled in many eyes looking at the fragile woman in combat clothes descending from the plain, reuniting with her family after six years of horror.

Little after stories sipped to the media from her hostage mates, telling disappointing stories about her, how she was selfish, prone to temper tantrums, seeking constantly her own benefit, even against the well being (however small) of her mates. It was said that she kept a radio hidden from her mates, which  she used to  hear the news and know what was going on. She even refused to later share the news with the other hostages. A note even mentioned that she often used crying to get away with her will, even with their captors. The stories were small and were soon swapped under the rug as meaningless, mean stories of mates less notorious that wished to either take a shine in the spotlight or ruin hers.

Two years passed after that, and her name faded into oblivion. Whatever her life was, it was more private, more hers, more of her family's and her friends', or so we thought. Many, perhaps imagined her seeking therapy, working hard to recuperate from the trauma and have a normal life again. Either way, her name was lost from the collective memory as other things took the stage, such as Barack Obama, Neda, Lady Gaga, Lindsay Lohan, Angela Merkel, Bernard Madoff and others of the size. 

This, well, until recently, when the news hit us all in the face, that she was sueing the Colombian Government  for $6.8 million over her kidnap. The news hit us like a slap out of nowhere. It was like looking a blown up case of some trivial trial, where someone sues the doctors who took care of him or her after an accident for not doing it sooner. It was the Colombian Government, that worked organized the operation to rescue her. Brave men and women risked their lives to release her and her hostage mates, and her response, now that her name is not in the papers, is to sue them?

Like many said, "was, perhaps the Colombian Government the one that kidnapped her?" "why don't she go sue the FARC?".

I was petrified by the shamelessness she showed with this demand. I was angried, however, with today's news where she ads insult to injury by crying on public, say that she would never want to harm Colombia, it was never her intention to attack those who had released her, and that she would not pursue the matter "if the negotiations outside the courthouse fail". Well, what would she say if the Colombian Government decided to charge her for all the expenses of her releasing? If the FARC decided to charge her with the bill of six years of feeding her and giving her the whatever shelter she got?

Her image of fragile woman shattered for ever in the eyes of the world, and now her tears are seen with disgust. They no longer seem honest, but part of her spoiled brat act. She cries to get out of trouble. How awfully we feel after supporting her and praying for her. Is she also going to sue all the Governments that intervened in her release because they didn't do it quicker?

This is how you fall from grace, this is how you waste a tremendous media capital you could have invested in something human, something good that would have given back to the world that worried for her. I guess, like they say here "árbol que nace torcido nunca su tronco endereza".