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" 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. "

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" 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

Will

Vengeance

" I carry the voices of all my family within me, and they were with me there in the jungle. "

" The only thing I've settled in my mind is that I want to forgive, and forgiveness comes with forgetting. "

" We're humans. Why always turn human attitude into political behaviours? I hate that. "

" When you lose your freedom, you are alone with your emotions and reactions... you can see, for example, the bad reactions you have in front of others or the way you could be dismissive or harsh. "

" I think that the worst thing is realizing that mankind - that - that human beings can be so horrible to other human beings. "

" I didn't want to accept that people would forget me, that the government wouldn't do anything to negotiate our freedom. After a year, I came to understand that not only had one year passed, many more would come. "

" I lived for nearly seven years with the awareness that death was my everyday companion. "

" The relationship with time changes when you're captive. "

" I want to serve my country, but not necessarily in the political arena. "

" 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.' "

" I owe everything to France. "

" 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. "

" You only can rest when have the truth, even when it's horrible. "

" I don't want to be submerged by depression. "

" At first, I didn't want to accept that I had been abducted. I kept thinking, 'Next week, I'll be freed.' "

" In a kidnapping, you leave behind a lot of your baggage, like arrogance and stubbornness. "

Ingrid Betancourt

Leave

Behind

" A novel - it's also a way of attacking subjects that you cannot confront in the eye. "

" I continue to aspire to serve Colombia as president. "

" 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

Political

Everyone

" I was forbidden to talk to my fellow hostages. "

" 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. "

" In the free world, your days pass very quickly because you have so many things to do, and you're in control of your life. "

" 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. "

" I think that women are peacemakers by genetics, because we are the ones who stay at home and because we are the ones who suffer with the aftermath of war. "

" I have shed many tears of pain and indignation. "

" Living in a jungle is not something easy; it's not something that you just adapt yourself to. And I think that in my case, I didn't want to adapt. "

" In captivity, one loses every way of acting over little details which satisfy the essentials of life. Everything has to be asked for: permission to go to the toilet, permission to ask a guard something, permission to talk to another hostage - to brush your teeth, use toilet paper, everything is a negotiation. "

" I know that I have to give testimony about all the things I lived, but I need time. "

" 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. "