Madam - Lara Marlowe's article on the trauma of my Colombian compatriot Ingrid Betancourt is heart-rending for sure ( The Irish Times, December 5th). However, please do not forget that Farc had kidnapped many Colombians, most of whom are ordinary citizens with nothing like the influential political connections of Ms Betancourt.
Having lived in the UK for the last five years as a Colombian migrant, it is always a bit frustrating to read of our President Uribe's "hardline stance" as if he were some implacable right-winger and as if things would be so much better if only he did not rub Farc up the wrong way so much.
In so far as Farc has any political vision, it is in terms of some vague agrarian reform which fails to resonate in any meaningful way with the vast majority of Colombia's electorate of town and city dwellers.
Support for Farc in opinion polls runs at less than 5 per cent. President Uribe's recent approval ratings are 74 per cent. Are we Colombians fools? I don't think so.
The World Bank estimates that the armed conflict with the and other groups (though Farc is by far the main one) has reduced Colombia's GDP by more than 40 per cent in the last decade.
That could have built some of the hospitals, schools and roads for which our country is crying out. A country second only to Brazil in terms of biodiversity, Colombia has a negligible foreign tourist trade because of the terrible fear of kidnapping.
I would like to make a direct appeal to your readers to develop a realistic view of the economic and psychological damage Farc inflicts on our economy and its citizens.
President Uribe needs international support for his "hardline stance" and I fear that when Ingrid Betancourt is eventually released the Sarkozys of the world will cease to take much interest in the plight of us ordinary Colombians who will continue to suffer at the hands of Farc. - Yours, etc,
SANDRA PANQUEVA, Fulham, London SW6.
Madam, - I write to congratulate Lara Marlowe on her powerful article about the continued detention of Colombian politician and human rights activist Ingrid Betancourt, who has been held in captivity in appalling conditions for over five years by Farc guerrillas. She was kidnapped by Farc while campaigning as a presidential candidate in 2002 because she believed in basic democratic rights. Others took a different view and resorted to violence and intimidation to silence her. She has paid a high price for her belief in democracy.
Having heard a passionate plea for her release made by her daughter, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September, I raised the issue of Ms Betancourt's detention in the Seanad with the Minister for Foreign Affairs on September 26th and was assured that the Irish Government strongly supports all diplomatic attempts to secure her release. With renewed international interest in this issue, we should do everything we can to urge the Government and the EU to take all necessary steps to bring about the release of Ms. Betancourt, and the release of other hostages held by Farc in Colombia. - Yours, etc,
IVANA BACIK, Seanad Éireann, Leinster House, Dublin 2.