Colombia Ingrid Betancourt, who survived the jungle imprisonment of Marxist-Leninist Farc terrorists, entered the Colombian presidential race

For a long time a Colombian who had been abducted in the early 2000s Ingrid Betancourt registered for the country’s presidential candidate on Tuesday night, says the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.

“We will unite Colombia and fundamentally change it,” Betancourt said, according to El Tiempo. “We will re-learn what it means to be a free citizen. I will work hard in the morning and evening to become your president. ”

Betancourt leads the Green Oxygen Party. However, he is seeking Colombia’s president through a central coalition of Hope. So first he has to win the primary election.

A new president will be elected in May-June for Colombia, with a population of about 50 million. There are two rounds of voting unless someone gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.

A clear pre-election favorite is left-wing Gustavo Petro.

60 years old Betancourt’s departure for the presidential race can be considered a bold move.

Betancourt was also a candidate exactly 20 years ago, in February 2002, when Farc guerrillas stopped his car on a remote road.

Farc is a Marxist-Leninist, and the European Union and the United States classified it as a terrorist organization. Since then, the Colombian government and the Farc have signed a peace agreement, and only some of the guerrillas have continued the violence.

When Betancourt was abducted, he was on his way to campaign in a remote village. However, six years followed nightmare in the jungle At Farc prison camp.

Betancourt and his comrades-in-arms were released during a Colombian military operation in 2008.

Since his release, Betancourt has lived mostly abroad. He is also a French citizen.

“I’m here to complete what I started with many of you in 2002,” Betancourt said in his campaign opening, according to El Tiempo.