Ingrid Betancourt announces her presidential candidacy in Colombia

The most prodigious rescue in the history of Colombia 9:26

(CNN Spanish) --

Former Colombian congresswoman Ingrid Betancourt, whose kidnapping and release by the FARC made world news, announced her presidential aspirations on Tuesday as part of the consultation of the Hope Center Coalition, the union of groups and political figures from center that will compete with a candidate for the presidency of the country.

Betancourt, who was a notorious figure in favor of the peace process with the FARC carried out by the government of Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018), will be measured in a consultation on March 13 against the pre-candidates Sergio Fajardo, Juan Manuel Galán, Alejandro Gaviria, Juan Fernando Cristo, Carlos Andrés Amaya and Jorge Enrique Robledo.

The pre-candidate will be a representative of her Oxygen Green party, for which she aspired 20 years ago, which now seeks to resurface in Colombian politics in parliamentary elections and whose legal status was revived in December 2021 by the National Electoral Council.

His campaign slogan "On a mission so that we Colombians free ourselves from the corruption that has us kidnapped."

Verde Oxígeno also endorses the candidatures of Sergio Fajardo and Carlos Amaya.

The center candidate will come out of that consultation and will face the candidates of the Historical Pact (left) and the Team for Colombia Coalition (center-right) in the first round on May 29;

as well as the candidates, to date, Rodolfo Hernández (from the League of Anticorruption Leaders), Luis Pérez (independent), Óscar Iván Zuluaga (Democratic Center) and Enrique Gómez Martínez (Movement for National Salvation).

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Who is Ingrid Betancourt?

Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped by the FARC in February 2002 when she was running for the presidency of Colombia.

She was released in July 2008 during the so-called "Operation Check", carried out by the Army and in which three Americans and more than a dozen soldiers and policemen were also released.

In June 2021, former members of the FARC acknowledged their responsibility to the kidnapping victims and offered an apology to all those affected by these deprivations of liberty.

On that occasion, Betancourt thanked the acknowledgment of the crimes, although he pointed out that reparation for the victims was still a pending issue to be resolved.

A US federal judge last week ordered the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla and more than a dozen of their former members to pay $36 million to Betancourt's son, who spent more than six years kidnapped by the group in the early 2000s, according to court documents obtained by CNN on Thursday.

In total there are 14 defendants: the FARC as a group plus 13 other former members, according to court documents.

Among them stands out Luciano Marín, better known as "Iván Márquez", who now remains in hiding since he is one of the leaders of the dissidents of the demobilized guerrilla.

Íngrid Betancourt: Operation Jaque was a resurrection 3:02

With information from Marlon Sorto and Fernando Ramos