Photo: Franz Johann Morgenbesser / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Ingrid Betancourt is, to me, one of the more harrowing and courageous figures in this database. Born in Bogota in 1961, she was campaigning for the Colombian presidency as a Green candidate when FARC kidnapped her in 2002, and that ordeal turned a politician into a global symbol of resilience. The awards tell the story: the Legion of Honour, the Princess of Asturias Award for Concord, BBC 100 Women, honorary citizenship of Paris. I read those not as vanity honors but as a world acknowledging real survival and principle. Her Colombian-French dual identity and anti-corruption stance make her, in my view, a genuinely consequential public life.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Ingrid Betancourt
- Name (Japanese)
- イングリッド・ベタンクール
- Reading
- いんぐりっど・べたんくーる
- Born
- December 25, 1961 (age 64)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Ox
- Origin
- Bogotá, Cundinamarca Department, Colombia
- Occupation
- politician
2. Background
- University
- Harris Manchester College
Awards & achievements
- Knight of the Legion of Honour
- 2002 Petra-Kelly-Preis
- 2008 Princess of Asturias Award for Concord
- 2004 Geuzenpenning
- Premios TVyNovelas
- 2013 BBC 100 Women
- honorary doctorate from the Université de Montréal
- 2002 honorary citizen of Paris
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Ingrid Betancourt born?
Born December 25, 1961 (age 64).
Where is Ingrid Betancourt from?
Ingrid Betancourt is from Bogotá, Cundinamarca Department, Colombia.
What does Ingrid Betancourt do?
Ingrid Betancourt works as politician.
Politician — see all → · More people from Colombia →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.