Betancourt keeps options open

Jul 8- Freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt said in an interview with Reuters Television that she didn't rule out the possibility of running for president in Colombia and that the only way to achieve peace is through dialogue.

Betancourt was rescued last week after more than six years in the jungle as a captive of the FARC in an operation that was widely seen as a vindication of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's hardline stance against the guerrillas.

SOUNDBITE: Ingrid Betancourt, saying,(Spanish):
"Of course I will return to Colombia. In fact, I have nothing here, no clothes or personal items. But I want to be prudent about my return to Colombia because my family is worried about the possibility that the FARC will try to seek vengeance against my rescue and the humiliating blow that represented to them. So they could make an attempt against me to seek that vengeance."

"The blow that the FARC received with our liberation was abysmal because it marks a philosophy of action that includes no violence. This was a blow where not one shot was fired and it was all that the international community had requested. So Uribe managed to do something very difficult to achieve which was to do what he wanted, to rescue the hostages, but he listened to what the international community had requested - that there be no bloodshed."