France's Sarkozy welcomes rescue of Betancourt

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed on Wednesday the freeing of French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and said she was in good health.

"Tonight, Ingrid Betancourt is free," Sarkozy told a news conference.

"Ingrid is in good health. She is at a military base in Colombia. My first words would be to say how happy we are," Sarkozy said.

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said on Wednesday that troops had rescued Betancourt along with three Americans and 11 other hostages after years of jungle captivity.

All the former captives were in reasonably good health despite having been held in harsh conditions, often chained by their captors of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Santos said.

(Reporting by Emmanuel Jarry and Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Andrew Roche)