Kidnapping and Hostages

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      Nancy Pelosi Says Her Husband’s Recovery Will Be a ‘Long Haul’

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      WASHINGTON — In her first publicly broadcast comments since her husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked by an intruder at the couple’s San Francisco home, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said his recovery was “going to be a long haul, but he will be well.”“It’s just so tragic how it happened,” Ms. Pelosi said in a video her team posted online on Friday, adding, “We have to be optimistic.”Ms. Pelosi’s brief remarks on her husband appeared to be part of a virtual call to discuss organizing for the midterm elections next week. In the video, Ms. Pelosi appeared seated before a bookshelf decorated with family photos and said she was at her home with her husband, who was surrounded by family. She thanked well-wishers for “your kind words, your prayers and your good wishes for Paul.”Mr. Pelosi, 82, was injured when the intruder hit him on the head with a hammer early in the morning on Oct. 28 before being tackled and restrained by police officers. The intruder demanded to see Ms. Pelosi, who was in Washington at the time, according to the authorities.The suspect, David DePape, later told the police that he saw Ms. Pelosi as “the ‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party” and that he wanted to break her kneecaps if she “lied” to him.Ms. Pelosi has not commented on the apparent motivation behind the attack or the determination by authorities that she was the intended target. She has long been a top target of threats, and last week’s assault revealed the vulnerabilities in security around members of Congress and their families — even for a lawmaker as powerful and wealthy as Ms. Pelosi, who is second in line to the presidency and has her own security detail.In most of the 28-minute video, Ms. Pelosi talked about various aspects of the midterm elections. At one point, she appeared to grow emotional, her voice faltering as she alluded to fears of political violence while speaking about the importance of voting rights and the need to have secure polling places.“The protection — I’m sorry,” she said, pausing for a moment. “That is driven home to me — the fear that some people have about what’s out there coming at poll workers and the rest — we have to have the public safety. We have to have the law enforcement to make sure that our voting sites are safe.”She added: “There is reason to be concerned, but we can’t be fearful. We have to be courageous.”Mr. Pelosi was released from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on Thursday after undergoing surgery for a skull fracture and treatment for injuries to his arm and hand. In a statement on Thursday, Ms. Pelosi had said her husband remained under the care of doctors and was facing “a long recovery process.”Mr. DePape has been charged by federal prosecutors with attempting to kidnap Ms. Pelosi and assaulting a relative of a federal official. He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to several state felony charges. More

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      Election Deniers Running for Office

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      More from our inbox:The Trump Subpoena Is a MistakeAbduction of Ukrainian Children: An ‘Insidious’ Russian PlaybookBerlusconi’s Affection for Putin‘Stop Eating Animals’ The New York TimesTo the Editor:Re “2020 Election Skeptics Crowd the Republican Ticket Nationwide” (front page, Oct. 15):It is inevitable that many Republican election deniers running for office in November will be elected, especially in red states and districts, but I am just as worried about the election deniers who will lose.Will they accept their losses or, like Donald Trump, refuse to concede and charge that their election was rigged? Even worse, and again emulating Mr. Trump, will they incite their supporters to storm the offices where votes are being tabulated and/or where elections are being certified? This could be especially problematic in districts and states that take a long time to count absentee and mail-in ballots.Democracy requires that losers accept their losses. Unfortunately, 2020 election deniers care more about winning at any price than they do about democracy. I envision violence breaking out at county election boards and state offices from Maine to California. I just hope that local police departments are better prepared than the Capitol Police were on Jan. 6.Richard KaveshNyack, N.Y.The writer is a former mayor of Nyack.To the Editor:The number of election skeptics running should not come as a surprise to anyone. When we allow partisan politicians to gerrymander their states into electorally “safe” districts, the real voting occurs in the primaries. Extremists tend to win in the primaries, so this system almost guarantees that extremists, from both ends of the political spectrum, will be elected.When we send extremists of the left and the right to Washington, no one should be surprised that the process of compromise, so essential for good government, is impossible for them.Until the Supreme Court bars partisans from the electoral mapping process, America will remain stuck in a political quagmire of its own making. In recent times partisans have been barred from this process in countries such as Canada, Britain and Australia. Why can’t we take the same step in America?James TysonTrenton, N.J.To the Editor:In the midst of Covid, America significantly relaxed its voting formalities for 2020, with unrequested mail-in ballots; unsupervised, 24-hour drop boxes; and no-excuse-needed absentee voting. When the G.O.P. suggests that lax voting procedures harmed electoral integrity, they are charged with threatening American democracy. Yet when the G.O.P. attempts to restore pre-Covid voting formalities, the Democrats histrionically scream that American democracy is being threatened by Jim Crow voter suppression.The Times not only fails to challenge this specious Democratic assertion, but also joins the charge.Mike KueberSan AntonioTo the Editor:It seems that there has been one essential question left unasked in this challenging time period for our republic. I would suggest directing it to each and every election-denying Republican who was “elected” on that very same 2020 ballot:If the 2020 election was ripe with fraud, as you claim, and Donald Trump was cheated at the polls, then please explain how your election to office on the very same ballot managed to avoid being tainted as well.I expect the silence to be deafening.Adam StolerBronxTo the Editor:I object to The Times’s use of the term “skeptics” to describe Republican candidates who claim that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. Please leave “skeptic” to its proper uses. No one would say a politician who claimed that 2 + 2 = 13 million is a “math skeptic.” There are plenty of suitable words in the dictionary, including “liar” and “loon.”William Avery HudsonNew YorkThe Trump Subpoena Is a MistakeFormer President Donald J. Trump’s legal team could also invoke executive privilege in an attempt to ward off the subpoena.Brittany Greeson for The New York TimesTo the Editor:Re “Trump Is Subpoenaed, Setting Up Likely Fight Over His Role on Jan. 6” (front page, Oct. 22):The decision by the House Jan. 6 committee to subpoena former President Donald Trump to testify is a mistake.Even if he agrees to appear before the committee, Mr. Trump’s behavior is predictable. Based on his inability to accept defeat, and his view of disagreement as something personal that warrants lashing out at the other party, we can expect him to approach the committee as an enemy, deserving nothing but contempt.Based on his past and continuing behavior, we can expect him to be nasty, offensive and obnoxious. Attempting to belittle the committee members individually and as a group, he would make a mockery of the proceedings. Nothing of substance would be accomplished, except to place his personality on public display, which continues to delight his supporters.So the committee should avoid the futile effort and potential embarrassment, and refrain from trying to have Mr. Trump appear before it.Ken LefkowitzMedford, N.J.Abduction of Ukrainian Children: An ‘Insidious’ Russian PlaybookA broken window at a hospital in March in Mariupol, Ukraine. Russian officials have made clear that their goal is to replace any childhood attachment to home with a love for Russia.Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated PressTo the Editor:Re “Taken by Russia, Children Become the Spoils of War” (front page, Oct. 23):The abduction of Ukrainian children into Russian families is more than “a propaganda campaign presenting Russia as a charitable savior.” It follows an insidious playbook used by Soviet leaders after their 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.Thousands of Afghan children were abducted to the Soviet Union to be given a Communist education, so that a new generation of Afghans would be trained to lead a Soviet-sponsored Afghanistan. In 1989, however, Soviet troops were forced from Afghanistan, unable to prevail against Afghans fiercely defending their homeland.Vladimir Putin may very well be repeating past practices, hoping to brainwash Ukrainian children into a love for Russia, and thus preparing them to lead a Russian-dominated Ukraine.But he should learn other lessons from the past instead: that people defending their country are not easily defeated, and that the Soviet failure in Afghanistan upended the Soviet leadership and, ultimately, the Soviet Union itself.Jeri LaberNew YorkThe writer is a founder of Human Rights Watch and the former director of its Europe and Central Asia division.Berlusconi’s Affection for Putin Vladimir Rodionov/SputnikTo the Editor:Re “Berlusconi, Caught on Tape Gushing Over Putin, Heightens Concerns” (news article, Oct. 21):Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s talk of “sweet” letters and affection for Vladimir Putin, the barbaric Russian president, is as troubling as the right-wing political party that has ascended to power in Italy, a party in which Mr. Berlusconi has a patriarchal, deeply influential role.But Mr. Berlusconi’s defense of Mr. Putin’s savage invasion of Ukraine is even more sickening and chilling. Woe to Europe and the world if we see any significant scaling back or ultimately an abandonment of financial and military support for Ukraine.Mr. Putin may send Mr. Berlusconi bottles of fine vodka, but the Russian leader’s main exports to the real world are terror, autocracy and death.Cody LyonBrooklyn‘Stop Eating Animals’Lily and Lizzie after being rescued.Direct Action EverywhereTo the Editor:Re “I Took 2 Piglets That Weren’t Mine, and a Jury Said That Was OK,” by Wayne Hsiung (Opinion guest essay, Oct. 21):Mr. Hsiung’s powerful essay reveals the horror of animals being raised for meat. Meat production creates catastrophic global warming and tortures sentient beings. Stop eating animals.Ann BradleyLos Angeles More

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      Democrats Condemn Tudor Dixon for Mocking Whitmer Kidnapping Plot

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      Tudor Dixon, the Republican nominee for governor of Michigan, mocked a kidnapping plot against her Democratic opponent, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, at two campaign events on Friday.The 2020 plot against Ms. Whitmer rattled Michigan and was seen as a sign of the rising threat of political violence and right-wing domestic terrorism. Two men were convicted in a plan to kidnap the governor at her vacation home and instigate a national rebellion. Prosecutors said that the men went on “reconnaissance missions” to the home, amassed high-powered guns and discussed blowing up a bridge to keep the police from responding. Two other men were acquitted.“The sad thing is Gretchen will tie your hands, put a gun to your head and ask if you are ready to talk. For someone so worried about getting kidnapped, Gretchen Whitmer sure is good at taking business hostage and holding it for ransom,” she said at an event in Troy, Mich., provoking laughter and applause in the room.The remarks drew swift condemnation from Ms. Whitmer’s campaign and from Democratic groups. At another campaign event later in the day in Muskegon, Ms. Dixon doubled down. She joked that Ms. Whitmer had looked unsure of what was going on as she held President Biden’s hand during his recent visit to an auto show in the state.“The look on her face was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is happening. I’d rather be kidnapped by the F.B.I.,’” she said at the rally, as some in the audience laughed, clapped and whistled. Then, looking to reporters in the back, she contended that her earlier comments about holding businesses for ransom had not been a joke.Tudor Dixon took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Coalition in Dallas last month. She is running against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat.Emil Lippe for The New York Times“If you were afraid of that, you should know what it is to have your life ripped away from you,” Ms. Dixon said.Ms. Dixon, who is trailing Ms. Whitmer in the polls before the election on Nov. 8, had been campaigning on Friday with Donald Trump Jr. and Kellyanne Conway, the former Trump White House adviser. Former President Donald J. Trump is expected to appear with Ms. Dixon at a rally on Oct. 1 in Macomb County.In a statement, Sam Newton, deputy communications director for the Democratic Governors Association, called Ms. Dixon’s comments “dangerous, an insult to law enforcement who keep us safe and utterly disqualifying for the role of Michigan governor.”Maeve Coyle, a spokeswoman for Ms. Whitmer’s campaign, said Ms. Dixon’s remarks made her “absolutely unfit to lead in Michigan” and were “no laughing matter.”“Governor Whitmer has faced serious threats to her safety and her life, and she is grateful to the law enforcement and prosecutors for their tireless work,” Ms. Coyle said in a statement. More

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      How Michigan Resisted Far Right Extremism

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      ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A brutal plot to abduct the governor. An armed protest in the galleries of the State Capitol. A candidate for governor who stormed the halls of Congress — only to see his popularity rise.In Michigan, you can feel extremism creeping into civic life.Michigan is far from the only state in the grip of politicians who peddle disinformation and demonize their opponents. But it may also be the one best positioned to beat back the threat of political violence.Unlike, say, Arizona and Pennsylvania, two purple states where Republicans have also embraced a toxic brew of political violence and denialism, Michigan is home to voters who, to date, have avoided succumbing to the new conservative dogma, thanks in large part to its Democratic politicians, who have remained relentlessly focused on kitchen table issues. In that sense, Michigan may hold lessons for residents of other states looking to withstand the tide of authoritarianism and violence, restoring faith in the American institutions under siege from the right.Certainly, recent history is concerning. Although a jury last month convicted two men who plotted to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer over her Covid shutdown orders, that verdict came only after a jury in an earlier trial could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges against them and acquitted two other co-defendants, despite chilling evidence that members of a militia group known as the Wolverine Watchmen had been building homemade bombs, photographing the underside of a bridge to determine how best to destroy it to slow a police pursuit and using night-vision goggles to surveil Ms. Whitmer’s vacation home.In that first trial, the defense argued that the F.B.I.’s informants had egged on the men, and it was persuasive enough to deadlock the jury. But I doubt the jurors would have been so receptive to that line of argument without Donald Trump persistently blasting government employees as “the deep state” and calling the conduct of the F.B.I. “a disgrace.”For the upcoming November elections, the G.O.P. nominees for attorney general and secretary of state are election deniers, and the candidate for governor has also cast doubt on the results of the 2020 vote for president. And not only are Republican candidates consumed with signaling an allegiance to Mr. Trump, but we are also seeing an alarming rise in political extremism in Michigan.In spring 2020, armed protesters demonstrated against Covid shutdown orders by occupying the galleries over the Senate chamber in the State Capitol while brandishing assault rifles. After the 2020 election, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson faced a deluge of threats and harassment from election deniers, including an armed protest at her home, where a mob chanted “stop the steal” while she was inside with her 4-year-old son. Ryan Kelley, who sought the Republican nomination for governor, was charged with four misdemeanor offenses for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. After his involvement in the attack became well known, his polling numbers actually went up.Still, there is reason for some cautious optimism. In the Republican primary, voters rejected Mr. Kelley. An independent citizens redistricting commission has been created by a voter initiative to end the gerrymandering that has led to a Republican-controlled State Legislature. Recent polling shows Ms. Whitmer, Ms. Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel, who are all Democrats, with comfortable leads as the general election approaches, and their resilience in the face of threats has only strengthened their political stock. And the convictions in the Whitmer kidnapping case show that 12 random people can still be found who will set aside their biases and decide a case based on the law and the facts they hear in court. My hunch is that there are more fair-minded people out there who will go to the polls in November.Governor WhitmerPatrick Semansky/Associated PressPragmatic problem-solving still seems to appeal to Michigan voters. Many families’ fortunes are tied inextricably to the auto industry, the health of which can swing sharply with every economic trend. Ms. Whitmer has championed economic development legislation that has helped create 25,000 auto jobs during her administration. She recently made a pitch to leverage federal legislation to lure companies to manufacture semiconductors in Michigan.In a state sometimes referred to as the birthplace of the middle class, labor unions carry more influence with working-class voters than the MAGA movement. From the rebirth of Detroit to the expansion of tourism Up North, Michigan is also a place that has long welcomed newcomers. Whether they be laborers on the assembly lines of Henry Ford or engineers for autonomous vehicles, workers from all over the world have always been needed and accepted as part of the work force, making it more difficult to demonize outsiders as “other.” As a result, voters tend to be less susceptible to the politics of fear that are driving the culture wars. Indeed, Ms. Whitmer was elected with a slogan to “Fix the Damn Roads.”Maybe it is a Midwestern sensibility, but Michiganders seem more interested in candidates who will help advance their financial bottom lines than those who traffic in conspiracy theories. And, four years later, Ms. Whitmer has fixed a lot of the damn roads.By focusing on economic outcomes of working families, Democrats in Michigan have managed to clinch not only the top state offices, but also the state’s two U.S. Senate seats.And while every state is different, politicians in other states could learn from Michigan to ignore the bait Republicans use to demonize them and focus on the bottom line issues that matter to voters.Barbara McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) is a professor of law at the University of Michigan. She served as the U.S. attorney for Michigan’s Eastern District from 2010 to 2017.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. More

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      Group Wanted to Kidnap Michigan Governor and Block Biden’s Election, Plotter Says

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      By abducting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, one man who pleaded guilty said, he hoped to disrupt the 2020 election and perhaps start a civil war.GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — To hear Ty Garbin tell it, the kidnapping of Michigan’s Democratic governor would have been just the beginning.By abducting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Mr. Garbin and other plotters hoped, he said, to set off a chain of events that would prevent Joseph R. Biden Jr. from being elected president and perhaps foment a civil war.“The plan was for us to basically be the ignition to it, and hopefully other states or other groups would follow,” said Mr. Garbin, who pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to kidnap the governor and who testified this week at the federal trial of four other men accused of participating in the plot.Since Mr. Garbin and the others were arrested in October 2020, before there was any attempt to carry out a plan, prosecutors have portrayed the group as a menace to democracy and a vivid example of the dangers of domestic extremism. Lawyers for the four men now standing trial have described the case instead as an F.B.I. trap, in which their clients were targeted for their political views, pushed toward a far-fetched plot by government informants and undercover agents, then prosecuted for their speech.That made the testimony of Mr. Garbin, a militia leader who was neither an informant nor a federal agent, pivotal to the prosecutors’ case against the men on trial. The defendants, Brandon Caserta, Barry Croft, Adam Fox and Daniel Harris, are charged with kidnapping conspiracy and could face life in prison if convicted. Mr. Croft, Mr. Fox and Mr. Harris are also accused of planning to blow up a bridge and were charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, his hands cuffed in front of his waist, Mr. Garbin testified for hours this week at the federal courthouse in downtown Grand Rapids. Looking straight ahead, and speaking in even tones, Mr. Garbin told jurors that he had wanted to kidnap Ms. Whitmer, and that he had been prepared for a gunfight with her security detail. Mr. Garbin testified that he had not been pushed into his planning by an F.B.I. informant whom defense lawyers have tried to portray as the architect of the plot.Ty GarbinKent County Sheriff, via Associated PressUnder questioning by prosecutors, Mr. Garbin pointed out to jurors an AR-15 rifle and a pistol that he said he was prepared to use against the governor’s security detail, as well as a bulletproof vest where he planned to store extra bullets. He recounted a nighttime “recon” mission in which he and other members of the group tried to scope out Ms. Whitmer’s vacation cottage, outside the northern Michigan town of Elk Rapids, but ended up driving aimlessly on her street because they had the wrong address. And he described a training outing where he and others went through a makeshift “shoot house” as practice for storming Ms. Whitmer’s vacation home.“The purpose of the training was furthering our skills to prepare for kidnapping the governor of Michigan,” said Mr. Garbin, 26, who until his arrest worked as an airplane mechanic at Detroit’s international airport. He received a prison sentence of just over six years after pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors.Another prosecution witness who also pleaded guilty to the kidnapping conspiracy, Kaleb Franks, testified on Thursday that he also intended to kidnap the governor and had not been forced into the plot by the F.BI. Mr. Franks, who has not yet been sentenced, said he had hoped to die during the attack on the governor. Mr. Franks, 27, said he had been in despair after the deaths of three close family members.Prosecutors said in the months before the arrests, the men, many of whom were militia members, attended meetings and what they described as “field training exercises” to practice shooting and first-aid. In one exercise, they videotaped themselves jumping out of Mr. Franks’s bright-blue PT Cruiser and taking cover behind its doors while they fired rifles.Secretly recorded audio and private messages also showed members of the group repeatedly airing grievances about the government, especially about Covid-19 restrictions, and expressing openness to a range of possible attacks. But there has been vast disagreement in court about how close they were to carrying out any attack, and about what their exact plan even was.Dan Chappel, a military veteran who signed on as an F.B.I. informant in early 2020 after becoming worried about the goals of one militia, the Wolverine Watchmen, pretended to befriend the men who were charged and recorded their interactions for months. As the group began to develop a plan, some of the defendants mused about storming the State Capitol in Lansing or taking Ms. Whitmer in a boat across Lake Michigan or blowing up a bridge to make it harder for police to respond to the kidnapping.But defense lawyers, who are pursuing an entrapment defense, questioned Mr. Chappel’s role in the plot, pointing out that he helped lead militia training and made suggestions about attack plans. The implication was that, if not for Mr. Chappel, who was receiving instructions from the F.B.I., the plan to kidnap Ms. Whitmer would probably not have moved forward.Mr. Chappel, who spent parts of several days on the witness stand, said he believed the men intended to kidnap Ms. Whitmer, kill members of her security detail and eventually kill the governor herself after staging a fake trial. But the exact plans for the kidnapping, a date for which had not seen set, seemed to have still been in flux at the time of the arrests, a fact that defense lawyers have seized on.Mr. Garbin, who had expressed hope of setting off a civil war, testified that he thought they would kidnap Ms. Whitmer, take her out on Lake Michigan, strand her in a boat, drop the motor and leave her there alone. Under cross-examination, Mr. Garbin conceded that no boat had been selected for that mission, and that he did not know how the kidnappers planned to get themselves back to shore.“How were you going to drop this nonspecific motor from this nonspecific boat into the lake?” Joshua Blanchard, a lawyer for Mr. Croft, asked.The trial, now in its third week, is expected to continue into April. More

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      Ingrid Betancourt se postula a la presidencia de Colombia

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      El anuncio de su candidatura llega en un momento crítico: los colombianos están hartos de la clase política y el futuro del acuerdo de paz está en riesgo.BOGOTÁ — Ingrid Betancourt, excongresista y quien fue mantenida como rehén por la guerrilla y llegó a simbolizar tanto la brutalidad del largo conflicto en Colombia como de los esfuerzos de reconciliación del país, se postulará a la presidencia, dijo el martes.Betancourt entra en una campaña presidencial muy abierta en un momento en el que Colombia está en una determinante encrucijada política y social.Cuando fue secuestrada hace 20 años, Betancourt estaba haciendo campaña para el mismo cargo. Ahora, dijo, el país se enfrenta al mismo “sistema corrupto” y “maquinarias politiqueras” que ella combatió entonces.“Hoy estoy aquí para terminar lo que empecé”, dijo en un estrado en un hotel del centro de Bogotá, la capital del país, acompañada por sus aliados.Betancourt, quien fue capturada en 2002 y retenida durante más de seis años por la mayor fuerza guerrillera del país, las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, anunció su candidatura a las elecciones de mayo mientras el país enfrenta enormes desafíos.Tras más de 50 años de guerra, el gobierno y el grupo rebelde, conocido como las Farc, firmaron un acuerdo de paz en 2016. Pero, desde entonces, una oleada de otros grupos armados ha irrumpido en el vacío y seguido combatiendo.La violencia ha aumentado en algunas zonas rurales y los críticos han culpado al gobierno por no invertir lo suficiente para abordar la desigualdad y la pobreza que han contribuido a impusar la guerra, como se había comprometido a hacer en el acuerdo de paz.Muchos colombianos están hartos del statu quo político, un sentimiento que estalló en la esfera pública en mayo del año pasado, cuando miles de personas salieron a las calles durante más de un mes para protestar por las penurias que solo empeoraron con la pandemia.Tras sus años de cautiverio —en los que a veces estuvo encadenada— Betancourt ha apoyado el proceso de paz y también ha criticado a las Farc, convirtiéndose en un símbolo de los intentos nacionales de reconocer los costos de la guerra, pero también de superarla.Sergio Guzmán, un analista de Bogotá, llamó a Betancourt la “candidata de la reconciliación” del país.En una entrevista con el Times el año pasado, Betancourt calificó el acuerdo de paz como “una ventana, una oportunidad generacional, de salir de la locura violenta en la cual hemos vivido toda nuestra vida”.La cuestión, dijo Guzmán, es si eso es lo que quieren los colombianos.“Todas nuestras elecciones han sido miedo, esperanza y odio”, continuó. “Ninguna elección se ha disputado sobre la base de la compasión y la reconciliación”.Hay un descontento generalizado con el actual presidente, Iván Duque, quien es un producto del poder político tradicional de derecha del país, mientras que un populista de izquierda, Gustavo Petro, lidera las encuestas en medio de una ola izquierdista y opuesta a quienes están en el poder que se extiende por América Latina.“¿Puede Ingrid convertirse en un bálsamo para esas emociones negativas predominantes que estamos sintiendo en este momento?”, dijo Guzmán. “No lo sé. Esa es una de las cosas que nos va a decir su candidatura”.Pero para ganar impulso entre los votantes, dijo, “tiene que vender la idea de que la reconciliación es mejor que el populismo”.Aunque Betancourt es ampliamente conocida en todo el país, una victoria en mayo no es ni mucho menos segura.Para llegar a las elecciones de mayo, Betancourt tendría que ganar las primarias de marzo, en las que competiría con otros candidatos de centroNathalia Angarita para The New York TimesEn este momento hay más de 20 aspirantes a la presidencia, y la mayoría de los más conocidos se agrupan en tres coaliciones: una de izquierda, encabezada por Petro; una de centro, a la que se une Betancourt; y una de derecha, cuyos miembros se consideran los abanderados del gobierno actual.Para llegar a las elecciones de mayo, Betancourt tendría que ganar las primarias de marzo, en las que competiría con otros candidatos de centro, como Alejandro Gaviria, exministro de Salud y hasta hace poco rector de una prestigiosa universidad.Guzmán señaló que Betancourt se incorporó a la campaña tarde en el calendario electoral y calificó su candidatura como “una medida desesperada”.Colombia nunca ha tenido una mujer en la presidencia, y Betancourt es una de las cuatro candidatas de las tres principales coaliciones.La candidata más destacada hasta el momento ha sido Francia Márquez, una joven política afrocolombiana y activista medioambiental que también es víctima de la guerra.Márquez, quien se ha unido a la coalición de la izquierda, se ha distinguido no solo por su identidad —la política colombiana ha estado dominada por hombres blancos y ricos—, sino por su franca adhesión a la política feminista y su disposición a criticar a Petro.Betancourt es hija de una política y de un político y diplomático colombianos, y posteriormente obtuvo la nacionalidad francesa a través de su primer marido.En 2002, tras su paso por el Congreso, Betancourt se lanzó a la campaña presidencial como integrante del Partido Verde Oxígeno, un movimiento político joven de filosofía pacifista, ecologista y anticorrupción. El 23 de febrero de 2002, cuando se dirigía a un acto de campaña en la ciudad de San Vicente del Caguán, fue detenida en un control de carretera y tomada como rehén por las Farc.Durante sus años de cautiverio en la selva, fue tratada brutalmente e intentó escapar en repetidas ocasiones, experiencias que relató en su libro No hay silencio que no termine.Fue rescatada por el gobierno colombiano y, con los años, se ha convertido en la víctima más conocida del país. Pero también ha sido objeto de críticas: de quienes dicen que ha restado atención a víctimas más pobres y menos conocidas, y de otros que la han criticado por pedir una indemnización al gobierno colombiano tras su cautiverio y rescate.Betancourt vive desde hace años en Francia y regresó a Colombia hace apenas unos meses. En su discurso de campaña, se refirió directamente a las críticas de que el traslado estaba diseñado para obtener un beneficio político personal.“He vuelto en busca del mayor beneficio político”, dijo, “que todos tengamos una verdadera democracia”.El anuncio de su campaña no dice mucho sobre sus propuestas políticas, más allá de las repetidas promesas de luchar contra la corrupción y de abordar el impacto de la violencia en el país.“Mi historia es la historia de todos los colombianos”, dijo.En un país de más de 50 millones de habitantes, nueve millones están registrados en el gobierno como víctimas del conflicto.“Mientras las Farc nos esclavizaba a mí y a mis compañeros, los cárteles de la droga, los violentos y los políticos corruptos han estado esclavizando a cada uno de ustedes”, continuó.“Vamos a salir de esta cultura mafiosa, mentirosa, violenta y vamos a aprender de nuevo a ser ciudadanos libres”.Sofía Villamil More

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      Ingrid Betancourt to Make a Bid for President of Colombia

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      Ingrid Betancourt’s candidacy comes at a critical time, when Colombians are fed up with the political establishment and the future of the peace agreement is at stake.BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Ingrid Betancourt, a former congresswoman and one-time guerrilla hostage who has come to symbolize both the brutality of Colombia’s long war and the country’s efforts at reconciliation, will run for president, she said Tuesday.Ms. Betancourt enters a wide open race at a time when Colombia is at a critical political and social crossroads.When she was kidnapped 20 years ago, Ms. Betancourt was campaigning for the same office. Now, she said, the country is facing the same “corrupt system” and “political machinery” that she had fought back then.“Today I am here to finish what I started,” she said, standing on a stage at a hotel in downtown Bogotá, the country’s capital, flanked by allies. Ms. Betancourt, who was captured in 2002 and held by the country’s largest guerrilla force, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, for more than six years, announced her bid for the May election with the country facing enormous challenges.Following more than 50 years of war, the government and the rebel group, known as the FARC, signed a peace deal in 2016. But since then, a swell of other armed groups have swept into the vacuum and continued to fight.Violence has surged in parts of the countryside — and critics have faulted the government for not investing enough to address the inequality and poverty that had helped fuel the war, as it had committed to doing in the peace deal.Many in Colombia are fed up with the political status quo, a sentiment that burst into the public sphere last May, when thousands took to the streets for more than a month to protest hardship that was only made worse by the pandemic.Following her years in captivity — when she was sometimes held in chains — Ms. Betancourt has both supported the peace process and criticized the FARC, emerging as a symbol of national attempts to acknowledge the costs of the war, but also to move beyond it.Sergio Guzmán, an analyst in Bogotá, called Ms. Betancourt the country’s “reconciliation candidate.”In an interview with The Times last year, Ms. Betancourt called the peace deal “a window — a generational opportunity — to leave behind the insane violence we have lived in all our lives.”The question, Mr. Guzmán said, is whether that’s what Colombians want.“All our elections have been fear and hope and hate,” he went on. “No election has really been fought on compassion and reconciliation.”There is widespread discontent with the current president, Iván Duque, who is a product of the country’s right-wing political establishment, while a left-wing populist, Gustavo Petro, is leading in the polls amid a leftist, anti-incumbent wave that is sweeping Latin America.“Can Ingrid become a balm to those prevailing negative emotions that we’re feeling right now?” Mr. Guzmán said. “I don’t know. That’s one of the things that her candidacy is going to tell us.”But to make any headway among voters, he said, “she needs to sell the idea that reconciliation is better than populism.”While Ms. Betancourt is widely known throughout the country, a win in May is far from certain.To even get to the May election, Ms. Betancourt would first have to win the March primary, in which she will compete against other centrists.Nathalia Angarita for The New York TimesToday, there are more than 20 candidates for the presidency, with most of the best-known candidates grouped into three coalitions: a coalition on the left, headed by Mr. Petro; a coalition in the center, which Ms. Betancourt is joining; and a coalition on the right, whose members are seen as the torchbearers for the current government.To even get to the May election, Ms. Betancourt would first have to win the March primary, in which she will compete against others in the center, including Alejandro Gaviria, a former health minister and recent head of a prestigious university.Mr. Guzmán pointed out that Ms. Betancourt joined the race late in the electoral calendar and called her bid “a Hail Mary.”Colombia has never had a woman president, and Ms. Betancourt is one of just four women candidates in the three leading coalitions.The most prominent female candidate to this point has been Francia Márquez, a young, Afro-Colombian politician and environmental activist who is also a victim of the war.Ms. Márquez, who has joined the coalition on the left, has distinguished herself not only because of her identity — Colombian politics has been dominated by wealthy white men — but because of her outspoken embrace of feminist politics and willingness to criticize Mr. Petro.Ms. Betancourt is the daughter of a Colombian politician and a Colombian diplomat, and later became a French citizen through her first husband.In 2002, following time in Congress, Ms. Betancourt launched a campaign for presidency as a member of the Partido Verde Oxígeno, a young political movement with a pacificist, environmental, anti-corruption philosophy. On Feb. 23, 2002, she was traveling to a campaign event in the city of San Vicente del Caguán, when she was stopped at a roadblock and taken hostage by the FARC.During her years in captivity in the jungle, she was treated brutally and tried to escape repeatedly, experiences she recounted in her book “Even Silence Has An End.”She was eventually rescued by the Colombian government, and over the years she has emerged as the country’s best-known victim. But she has also been the subject of criticism — from those who say she has taken attention away from poorer, lesser known victims, and from others who have criticized her for seeking compensation from the Colombian government following her captivity and rescue.Ms. Betancourt has lived in France for years and returned to Colombia just months ago. In her campaign speech, she directly addressed criticism that the move was designed for personal political benefit.“I have returned in search of the highest political benefit,” she said, “that all of us can have a true democracy.”Her campaign announcement said little about policy proposals beyond repeated vows to fight corruption — and to address the impact of violence on the country.“My story is the story of all Colombians,” she said.In a country of more than 50 million people, nine million are registered with the government as conflict victims.“While the FARC enslaved me and my companions, the drug cartels, violent groups and corrupt politicians enslaved each of you,” she went on.“We are going to leave behind this culture of mafias, violence and lies, and we are going to learn again to be free citizens.”Sofía Villamil More