Colombian hostage said to be in poor health

Former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, held hostage by rebels since 2002, is seriously ill with hepatitis B and malnutrition, Colombia’s human rights ombudsman said Thursday.

Betancourt’s health is “very, very delicate,” Wolmar Perez told local radio, saying she was treated last month at first-aid stations in jungle villages controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Perez said his office was working with local authorities in the southern province of Guaviare, a guerrilla stronghold, to try to send medical supplies to treat Betancourt and other kidnapping victims.

Reports received by the ombudsman’s office said Betancourt appeared malnourished and that her skin was raw from infected insect bites.

The FARC is holding Betancourt and hundreds of other hostages for ransom and political leverage. Those being held include three U.S. defense contractor employees captured in 2003 when their light aircraft was shot down in Caqueta state.

The rebel group, which took up arms in the 1960s, has been deadlocked with the government over conditions for exchanging dozens of such high-profile hostages for rebels held in government jails.

The FARC freed six hostages this year in deals mediated by leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.