The only thing I’ve settled in my mind is that I want to forgive, and forgiveness comes with forgetting. – Ingrid Betancourt
Sometimes you need other people to embody situations so that you can talk about things that for you are important. And I think that being able to hope for the future is what builds in us the strength to just get rid of things that, in the past, can hurt. – Ingrid Betancourt
You don’t master your fear. You’re not able to say, ‘I’m not going to be scared.’ But what you can do is say, ‘OK, I’m very very scared, but I have to do this and this and this.’ – Ingrid Betancourt
I want to tell President Sarkozy – and through him, all the French people – that they were our support, our light. – Ingrid Betancourt
As a Colombian, the only way I can relate to my country is through suffering. I hope that my children and my grandchildren will relate to the beautiful country in a way that it is positive and loving. – Ingrid Betancourt
When you have a chain around your neck, you have to keep your head down and try to accept your fate without succumbing entirely to humiliation, without forgetting who you are. – Ingrid Betancourt
The thing is that war is the opposite of negotiation. It’s when you cannot negotiate, when you cannot talk, when you cannot reach agreements that then you have war. – Ingrid Betancourt
During my captivity, I felt abandoned by everyone apart from my family and supporters, because there was no part of the political spectrum that would want me released. – Ingrid Betancourt
It’s easy when you have suffered to feel the link with what others have gone through. – Ingrid Betancourt
In Colombia, women are a huge factor for reconciliation. I have seen many strong women advocating for negotiations. I remember when the paramilitary were active, there were women close to the paramilitary asking for negotiations. – Ingrid Betancourt
We can’t continue with a justice of vengeance. Peace will require us to accept a certain degree of impunity; it’s inevitable. – Ingrid Betancourt
I was in chains all the time, 24 hours a day, for three years. I tried to wear those chains with dignity, even if I felt that it was unbearable. – Ingrid Betancourt
You are a free woman, and then you become a prisoner, and you receive all kinds of orders. Sit here, stand there. That’s it. You just, you don’t have the possibility of even moving to take your bag without asking for permission. – Ingrid Betancourt
In the jungle, faith also became something very real; it helped me to understand what was happening to me and changed my questions. – Ingrid Betancourt
In a kidnapping, you leave behind a lot of your baggage, like arrogance and stubbornness. – Ingrid Betancourt
I think that the worst thing is realizing that mankind – that – that human beings can be so horrible to other human beings. – Ingrid Betancourt
I had this belief that I couldn’t just accept to be treated as an object. It was a problem of dignity. – Ingrid Betancourt
