Former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt has said the Dutch government should try to establish contact with the rebel group to find out the whereabouts of Dutchwoman Tanja Nijmeijer. She joined the FARC as a student and may have fallen into disfavour with the leadership, putting her life at risk.
Tanja Nijmeijer |
Ms Betancourt appeared on the current affairs programme Nova on Thursday saying she is very concerned about the young Dutch woman who became a FARC rebel out of sympathy with the movement in 2002.
Last year, Ms Nijmeijer's diary was discovered, which contained passages criticising the rebel group. "If the FARC gets the feeling that Tanja has betrayed the organisation, then she's dead", Ms Betancourt said on Nova.
Arrest warrant
Last month, Colombian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Tanja Nijmeijer. Her name was discovered on a USB memory stick that was found in a deserted FARC camp as one of a group infiltrators in Colombian universities. They are suspected of recruiting new FARC members at the universities while posing as teachers or students.
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 Ingrid Betancourt, a former politician and presidential candidate in Columbia, was held captive in the jungle for six years. She and 14 other captives were whisked out of captivity through an elaborate undercover operation by the Colombian armed forces in July.
Ms Betancourt has been touring South America for the past month to promote hostage talks with FARC guerrillas as a way to end their 44-year-old insurgency.
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Tags:
Colombia,
FARC,
Ingrid Betancourt,
Tanja Nijmeijer
silvio,
18-12-2008
- italy
Trapped, in a forest, by a masculine inhuman paramilitary organisation, without the fresh air of freedom, without the freedom to choose the flowing time of her own life, in need of asking the rebels the permission for everything she did for six and a half years, almost seven: this is a miracle. May she carry the idea of a different way of doing politics through her foundation, a hope of peace, a less corrupted future for her own country: Colombia. It is of highly significance and importance that she does something for Ms Nijmejier, given her long experience of vacancy, insecurity and deprivation in captivity, as an hostage of FARC guerrillas.
David Berridge,
12-12-2008
- Canada
Revolutions do indeed devour their own, and Ingrid Betancourt's warning should be taken with heed. However, the Dutch government is therefore placed in a tricky situation. While trying to retrieve Tanja Nijmeijer, the effort could send the wrong message that she has indeed betrayed the FARC. Also, what can the Netherlands offer to the FARC which would be of immediate and direct benefit? A prisoner exchange perhaps may be diplomatically arranged, but this would require a three-way agreement involving the Columbian government, which would in turn, complicate matters even more. The Dutch government, therefore, may have to prepare for the worst outcome, as having a very high probability of occurence.
