In an interview with veteran journalist Darío Arismendi of the Caracol Radio & Television network on July 11, Betancourt Pulecio was unable to explain the intention of her sue-attempt. She showed herself nervous and insisting that she was unaware of the high risk she would face if she entered Caguán in 2002 during her presidential campaign.

The style of Arismendi is kind at the beginning, introducing his interviewee to the issue by an impression of almost solidarity. His calm and friendly tone, however, opens space to direct the questions that matter: If you needed only spaces to express what happened that day, why doing a sue to the state, why not doing it through the media? Why that so astronomic sum of money? I have documents from the authorities that prove that you were warmed of the danger and prevented to visit that region… Are you going to withdraw the demand?

Since the time of the kidnapping, the official version was that Íngrid Betancourt entered the region under her own decision, although she knew well that the region was under fire, because the government of Andrés Pastrana was committed to recover what was the demilitarized area of Caguán for the failed peace talks with the Farc. ‘They say that I am the responsible of my own kidnapping. I am not irresponsible, I was not irresponsible, I am not irresponsible,’ she insisted to Arismendi.

The journalist, who is director of Caracol Radio, asked to Ingrid in a video that is published on youtube: ‘Are you sorry for what you did? To what Ingrid Betancourt answered that she was sorry and that it was not her intention, that she was misunderstood.

Facebook

But the repentance of Betancourts  was not enough to many that have seen her attitude as a deep act of ungratefulness. In the Facebook group Amor por Colombia, marcha contra la ingratitud, one of its members says that although she showed repentance, the march must continue as planned. He continues:

‘Betancourt gave her face in Caracol. She was interviewed there (completely incoherent with what really happened), she apologized… but only today (when somebody has told her the reaction of the Colombians), she desisted. Therefore, she excused herself, but let the ‘conciliation’ to proceed its course. You must be 100 percent cynic to give the face, apologize and even that, hold the issue. We Colombians are prompt to forgive. If we forgive this situation, in three years more this impertinent woman will refund her “Oxygen” Party in order to apply for any official position.

Ingrid Betancourt will need a lot time to recover the trust of her own people.

It shows also that Colombians are more online than what you can imagine. The fact is very important for its development and the progress of its politics. It means also that Colombians can access to more global information and their minds cannot be deceived again by the honey speeches of the caciques (traditional political leaders.)

As Internet users in Colombia are mostly young people and intellectuals, the growing popularity of Mockus is clearly supported by such group of the Colombian society.

Intellectuals and young people have been ignored by traditional politicians in the modern history of Colombia. Intellectuals prefer to leave the country before they are trapped in the same circle of corruption, empty speeches and endless violence. As for young people, they are manipulated by vacuous ideals and betrayed after the elections.

This Mockus, by the other hand, is not managing the same traditional words of every election campaign in Colombia. He does not come from traditional high class families or powerful clans as the last 200 hundred years presidents of Colombia. He is a philosopher that changed the face of the capital of Colombia. To add more, he joined forces with another non-traditional figure of the new wave of Colombian leaders: former Medellín´s major Sergio Fajardo, who is his vice president formula.

Farc with Mockus

This is the most expected question to a man who became in question of weeks so favorite to be the successor of president Álvaro Uribe. With the strongest creator of the Democratic Security, Farc got the worse decay in its almost five decades of fight against the Colombian State.

But Mockus did not give hopes to Farc, if it was waiting such. He said recently that he is ready to take dialogues with the oldest world guerrilla, but on the bases of arguments and not under the threat of kidnapping and terrorism.

‘No va conmigo que la gente se coloque por fuera de la Constitución y las Farc están por fuera y con gente así es imposible negociar‘

‘It is not with me that the people put themselves out of the (National) Constituion, and the Farc is out of it and with people like that it is not possible to negociate,’ he said.

Mockus promised to strength the policy of Democratic Security, the same that made possible to strength the national institutions with president Uribe, while weakening the armed groups like the guerrillas and paramilitaries.

Threat in Facebook

As Facebook, the popular American network that has Colombia as one of its main members, became the political plaza of presidential candidate Mockus and we are in Colombia (even online), threats came soon to dark the optimism of many.

Mockus said to Caracol Radio that he expects that it is a bad joke. However, he says that he is not intimidated. By his part, president Álvaro Uribe declared that if it is possible to request international support to investigate the authors of the threats, he will proceed in this way in order to preserve the Colombian democracy.

In the photo, Jerónimo Uribe Jr. File of YVKE Mundial Radio, public domain.

Castro Prestelt is accused of incitement to commit crime and he can face prison between 6 and 15 years. Obviously to threat the life of the older son of the premier is not a matter of joke. The group was detected by the national security that contacted the American FBI and the network security of Facebook. Both groups were closed by the network and the IP was traced to locate the computer of Castro Prestelt, a young student in his early 20s.

He declared himself innocent before the prosecutor saying that he was not a terrorist and just a student. His group, created on July 6, got 20 members, three of them Farc guerrillas, according to Caracol Radio. The charges against Castro were brought to the judge by the 12^th prosecutor of the National Unity against Terrorism. In the group, the young student incited to assassinate the older son of President Álvaro Uribe and stated that after Uribe Junior the next would be the president himself.

The event has brought already the attention of other political figures of Colombia, like opposition senator Piedad Córdoba, a regular victim of similar kind of groups on social networks and other Internet spaces. She declared her intention last Thursday to take legal action against users who promote violence against her on the Internet. Last year her official website was attacked by hackers.

Colombia was the first Spanish country to popularize American Facebook, a social network that became a main space of communication, especially among young students, enterprisers, intellectuals and politicians of the northern South American nation. Demonstrations like One Million of Voices Against Farc, are promoted especially using Facebook.

The event is also an attention call to young generations in using Internet in a responsible way. You can assume a critical position against anybody in power, but incitement to crime would be always crime and not freedom of expression.

The sons of the president have been accused especially by some opposition leaders of illegal enrichment and abuse of power, but so far nothing has been stated to prove it.

The Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, the one of arrested Castro Prestelt, was founded in 1954 in Bogotá in order to promote new generations without sectarianism, fanaticism and hate, with an immeasurable value for human and natural resources, as Joaquin Molano Campuzano, its founder, stated.