Colombia: Betancourt calls for peace talks

BOGOTA, Colombia, July 3 (UPI) -- Freed Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt Thursday said the leftist rebels who held her for six years should engage in peace talks.

Betancourt -- a one-time presidential candidate who was captured in 2002 by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC -- said the armed group and other extreme leftist rebels should negotiate a peace with the Colombian government, El Tiempo reported online.

Betancourt, 46, recounted how Colombian forces dressed as FARC rebels duped her captors into transporting her and 14 other hostages in a helicopter, only to turn the tables on the rebels once the aircraft lifted off.

Three U.S. citizens -- Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell -- were among 15 hostages rescued Wednesday rebels in Colombia. The men, civilian contractors for the U.S. government, were captured in February 2003 when their plane crashed in the Colombian jungle.

The Colombian government has been fighting the FARC for more than 40 years.

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