Former hostage attacks Ingrid Betancourt

It’s been nearly eight months since a rescue mission organized by the Colombian government freed fourteen hostages including Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. citizens. She has campaigned since then to seek the release of hundreds of people held against their will by Colombian guerillas. Yet her efforts have been unfairly condemned by those on the extreme right as well as the far left.

According to the AP, one of the former contractors had harsh words to say about Betancourt during the time they were both hostages:

One of the Northrop Grumman employees alleges she was haughty and self-absorbed, stole food and hoarded books, and even put their lives in danger by telling rebel guards they were CIA agents.

"I watched her try to take over the camp with an arrogance that was out of control," Keith Stansell told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. "Some of the guards treated us better than she did."

One of Stansell’s fellow ex-captives- Marc Gonsalves- mentioned in the above article that conflicts were common among hostages though his relationship with Betancourt has always been cordial.

Stansell, Gonsalves, and Thomas Howes have been making the media rounds in order to promote their new book “Out of Captivity”. The text describes the 1967 days they spent as hostages after their surveillance plane crashed in 2003 and they were captured by the FARC guerrillas.

Image- El Pais (Picture of Keith Stansell released in 2007 while he was still held hostage in the Colombian jungle).
Online Sources- ABC News, Colombia Reports, Plan Colombia and Beyond, MSNBC, The Latin Americanist