CREPORTS/1ST UPDATE/ 12 July/ After angry public reaction to demands from former rebel hostage Ingrid Betancourt's for almost $7 million from the Colombian government for the physical and emotional damage suffered in her six-year captivity by the FARC, she now says she is NOT suing the government. She says her petition for damages is a way "open the way so that other people who have been kidnapped can get compensation" Vice-president Francisco Santos called her claim "greedy, ungrateful and opportunistic, which deserves the rejection of all Colombians and world opinion." Betancourt claims the Colombian state failed to provide adequate protection, removing her bodyguards and refusing to allow her to fly by state helicopter into the guerrilla area, where she was kidnapped.
