Freedom of the County on Ingrid Betancourt
Back to List03/11/2003
Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.
South Dublin County Council confers Freedom of the County on Ingrid Betancourt
November 10th 2003 at 6.30pm
At a ceremony at County Hall on 10th November the Mayor Councillor Maire Ardagh will present on behalf of the Council, the Freedom of the County to Ingrid Betancourt. The honour will be accepted on her behalf by Melanie Delloye Betancourt, her Daughter.
The Freedom of the County is presented by the Council following a resolution of Council in June 2002 as follows:
“That this Council supports Ingrid Betancourt and her fight for Human Rights in Columbia in recognition of her fight for a real democracy, supporting her action for social justice, her fight against corruption and her defence of the poor.
Considering that her kidnapping on 23/02/02 is an obstacle to democratic speech in Columbia, through her we wish to express our solidarity with 3000 others kidnapped in the country; noting that her fight against drug traffickers is also ours.
That this Council agrees to make her an honorary citizen of the Council in view of her difficult struggle which she has undertaken at great personal cost to herself and her family in order to serve her fellow citizens of Columbia and to inform the following persons of our support for Ingrid Betancourt:
His Excellency the Ambassador of Columbia
The Taoiseach and the President of the Seanad
Monsieur Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, Rue Archimede, 73 á 1000 Bruxelles
Mr Pat Cox, President of European Parliament, Rue Wiertz á 1047 Bruxelles
So that in their respective capacities they may try to help to achieve the freedom of Ingrid Betancourt.â€
Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped on her way to San Vicente, a town in Columbia. She was taken hostage by a rebel group FARC and was last seen in a video message, made in May 2003 and screened in August.
A campaign headed by family, friends and 280 committees has now spread to 35 countries. Given Ingrid’s French – Columbian nationality the campaign is huge in France. There, 730 councils have formally passed motions of support and the city of Paris is one of the many cities that have given her symbolic freedom. 135 Councils in Belgium have passed motions of support for Ingrid and the 3000 other hostages. Other countries have done the same 9 in Canada, 6 in Ireland, 3 in Spain, 2 in Italy and 1 in Argentina., USA Mexico and Luxembourg.
Since June 2002 when South Dublin passed the motion of support, Roscommon County Council, Balbriggan Town Council, Fingal, Dun Laoghaire and Dublin City Council have also passed resolution of support.
At 6.30 pm on Monday 10th November, Melanie will accept on behalf of Ingid the Freedom of South Dublin County. Melanie, is 17 years old, is a student educated in Colombia, New Zealand, and France. She speaks Spanish, French and English. She will arrive in Ireland on 7th November and depart on 11th following the ceremony.
It is hoped that during her time here she will raise awareness for her Ingrid Betancourt, citizen, politician and peacemaker detained now for nearly 22 months.
For further information on Ingrid Betancourt see http://www.betancourt.info/
Or contact the Ingrid Betancourt Committee in Ireland as follows:
AnneO Connell Tel 4930713 087 2034819 or Noel Canty 8333893 086 3815123
Released on behalf of South Dublin County Council by Benny Hickey Head of Corporate Services Tel 4149100 email benny.hickey@sdublincoco.ie