PARIS (AFP) — Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt sent a radio message Sunday to all hostages still in the grips of FARC rebels, as she recovered in Paris from her six-year ordeal, her sister said.
Freed from Marxist rebels in Colombia's jungle Wednesday, Betancourt went on Colombian radio to tell the remaining hostages French President Nicolas Sarkozy had "pledged to keep working for their release," her sister Astrid told AFP.
"I know that freedom will come very soon," the former presidential candidate told them from her Paris hotel. She was speaking on a night-time radio slot reserved for hostages' families, where her mother had sent her daily messages of support.
Betancourt, who also has French nationality, was given a clean bill of health after medical tests at a Paris military hospital Saturday.
On Sunday she retreated from the media glare with her newly-reunited family, joining a private lunch with former prime minister Dominique de Villepin, who taught her at university and campaigned for her release, her sister said.
Sarkozy has invited Betancourt to attend France's Bastille Day celebrations on July 14, when he is to personally award her the Legion of Honour, France's highest distinction, according to an Elysee source.
The 46-year-old said in an interview published Sunday she planned to "return to Colombia in a few days" and would write a play about her six-year hostage ordeal, three years of which she spent chained up night and day.
"When I was in captivity, I said to myself: 'People need to understand this, but I can't just write it down the way it happened. So I'll write a play. That way I will show people what they need to feel'."
Snatched from the rebels in a Colombian army operation on Wednesday along with three US hostages and 11 Colombians, Betancourt was then flown to Paris on a government plane and greeted by Sarkozy.
Bogota said the captives were rescued after Colombian soldiers posing as rebels arrived at a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) jungle hideout and tricked guerrillas into handing them over, ostensibly to be transferred to another rebel site.
Colombia was forced onto the defensive when a Swiss report emerged claiming the bloodless operation was arranged in advance by bribing the hostages' guards with 20 million dollars (12.7 million euros).
In response Colombia's military released a video of the hostages sobbing aboard a helicopter upon discovering they were free.
Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos also strongly denied any foreign nationals had taken part in the operation.
Meanwhile on Sunday, a French representative sent to Colombia to negotiate with FARC confirmed to AFP that he had met with the guerillas just two days before Betancourt's liberation.
Noel Saez -- a French former consul to Bogota -- said he was forced to leave two days before the handover.
According to Saez, FARC stalled in talks and told him and his Swiss counterpart to "wait a few days" for a response.
But the two men returned to Bogota for security reasons on June 30, two days before the operation to free Betancourt and other hostages was launched.
In an interview on France 3, Betancourt said she did not believe the local FARC commander was paid to hand over the hostages.
"When I saw him on the ground with his hands and feet tied and his eyes blindfolded, the expression on his face, on his mouth, it was not of someone who had been bought. He was mortified," she said.
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