Sarkozy meets Ingrid Betancourt’s family

The daughter of Ingrid Betancourt said on Saturday she was looking to the future with hope for the first time on the six-year anniversary of the French-Colombian politician's captivity at the hands of Colombian rebels.

"Today, it has been six years since the kidnapping of Mom but for the first time, I can see the future with a little bit of hope", Melanie Delloye-Betancourt said after a meeting in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, his wife Carla Bruni and other French officials.

She appeared to be alluding to positive signs like the release last month of former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) hostage Consuelo Gonzalez, who also attended the meeting with Sarkozy. She and Betancourt aide Clara Rojas were released last month. "I will ask President Sarkozy and his government to continue to act with solidarity to pursue a humanitarian agreement so that all of my companions who are still amid this tragedy could have the possibility to rejoin their families very soon and to be liberated", Gonzalez said after the meeting.

Ingrid Betancourt is among 44 high-profile hostages that the FARC rebels are offering to free in a prisoner swap. Betancourt, who has both French and Colombian nationality, was campaigning for Colombia's presidency when she was kidnapped.

In a diplomatic push in South America focusing on the issue last week, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the FARC was expected to release at least three captive Colombian politicians: Gloria Polanco, former Senator Luis Eladio Perez, ex-congressman Orlando Beltran, and possibly a fourth unnamed politician "within several days or weeks".

French officials reiterated that winning the release of Betancourt, who was taken hostage on February 23, 2002, remains a priority as scores of friends, relatives and well-wishers held a commemoration near Paris City Hall. "I am very moved after this meeting. I feel the President's very strong support allows us to believe that things will continue to move forward. This was also a very moving meeting because Consuelo was there", Melanie Delloye-Betancourt said.