Now that the hubbub of the rescue has ended, the media is rightly turning their attention not the rescuers, but the man who saved Ingrid Betancourt while she was a prisoner. William Perez, a young corporal in the Colombian army and fellow hostage, helped Ingrid eat, cared for her when sick, and gave her the strength to fight on even after she had decided to stop eating and just give up.
When Betancourt gave up the will to live and refused to eat saying she wanted to die, it was Perez who urged her to remain strong, who spoon fed her, who constantly reminded her she had to stay alive with “a spoonful for her daughter Mélanie, one for her son Lorenzo and one for her mother Yolanda.”
France24 will have an interview with him at 2:10 Paris time (GMT+2) on July 10.
Sadly, William Perez’s grandmother died of a heart attack upon hearing that he had been freed.
There is also news that Betancourt and her husband may be on the rocks. Of course it’s a bit early after years in the jungle to be back to normal, but something is up.
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