MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

France warns FARC on Betancourt's fragile condition

”I'm tired of suffering, death is a sweet option", said Ingrid in a letter released today

France warned on Thursday that French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt may have only weeks to live, after fellow captives released by Colombia's FARC guerrillas said her health was failing rapidly.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said it was a matter "of life or death" and called for her immediate release offering to travel to the Venezuelan-Colombian border to personally bring 46-year-old Betancourt back to France to be reunited with her children. "They can not leave this woman to die", emphasized Sarkozy from South Africa where he is on an official visit. "This woman is sick, we know, and it has been known for months, and now we have extremely precise testimonies. It's probably a matter of weeks. She must be released", said French Prime Minister Francois Fillon. At least two hostages freed Wednesday by a deal brokered by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said that Betancourt, 46, a former Colombian presidential candidate with dual French and Colombian citizenship was in "extremely poor health". "It's really necessary that everybody understands, particularly FARC, that the whole world will condemn you if Ingrid is not liberated as soon as possible", added Fillon who insisted that "the responsibility rests on FARC", since they have proved they can release hostages "why not Betancourt?" On Wednesday and a few hours after release former Congress members Eladio Perez and Gloria Polanco said they last saw Betancourt on February 4, when the two managed to escape their guards' oversight for about five minutes and talk with her "It hurts my soul she is very bad, very, very sick. She is exhausted physically and in her morale; Ingrid is mistreated very badly, they have vented their anger on her, they have her chained up in inhumane conditions", revealed Eladio Perez. In Caracas Gloria Polanco told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez: "I ask you to fight for the release of Ingrid Betancourt really soon, she is very ill, president, very ill. She has recurrent Hepatitis B and is near the end." After meeting MS Polanco and her colleagues, Mr Chavez did make what he called an appeal "from the heart" to the FARC leader to move Ms Betancourt to a safe location "while we continue working to pave the way for her definitive release". Betancourt was kidnapped in February 2002 after she and a campaign manager ventured into rebel-held territory despite warnings from the Colombian military. Her campaign manager Clara Rojas was among captives released last month. The last video of Ms Betancourt was released in November showing her looking extremely thin, sitting on a chair in the jungle, not speaking but just looking at the ground. In a letter addressed to her mother released shortly after the video, she says her strength has diminished, her appetite has gone, and her hair is falling out. The FARC rebels, who have long wanted to exchange their high-profile hostages for hundreds of jailed guerrillas, say they will not free more hostages until Colombia creates a demilitarized zone for talks. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has maintained a firm stance against the FARC, which is regarded as a terrorist group by the US and the European Union. Venezuelan president Chavez, who is accused of supporting the guerrillas, has played a crucial role in the release of hostages.