Updated

A spokesman for Colombia's Green Party says famed former rebel hostage Ingrid Betancourt will seek to represent it in next year's presidential elections.

Party spokesman Antonio Sanguino said Friday that Betancourt will compete in the party's March primary.

She will vie against pre-candidates that could include former Bogota Mayor Enrique Penalosa and former M-19 rebel Antonio Navarro Wolf.

The 51-year-old Betancourt spent more than six years as a hostage of FARC rebels before her July 2008 rescue. She had been abducted while running for president.

Betancourt wrote an acclaimed book about her ordeal titled "Even Silence Has An End." She has been living abroad and could not immediately be reached for comment.

President Juan Manuel Santos engineered Betancourt's rescue while serving as defense minister. On Wednesday, he announced his re-election bid.