Freed hostage visits Lourdes with family

AccomPAmEn by her mother, sister and children, former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt made a pilgrimage to the Sanctuaries of Our Lady of Lourdes less than two weeks after she was freed from years in captivity.
French television showed the 46-year-old walking to the Marian grotto at the shrine in the French Pyrenees. Surrounded by police and pilgrims, she was greeted by Bishop Jacques Perrier of Tarbes and Lourdes.
The Catholic politician prayed before a crowd of thousands in thanksgiving for her life and freedom. She was abducted in 2002 by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, while she was running for president. On July 2 the Colombian army staged a bloodless military operation and liberated Miss Betancourt and 14 others.