Any operation to rescue Colombian former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, held hostage for the past 18 months by Marxist rebels, would be handled "prudently" to guarantee her life, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said on Sunday.

"The government must deal with this issue very prudently. The Defense Ministry has to analyze it," Uribe told reporters.

Betancourt appeared in a rebel video-tape broadcast on national television late on Saturday, calling for a military rescue from her secret guerrilla prison.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish initials FARC, kidnapped Betancourt at a roadblock in February 2002 with hopes of swapping her for jailed comrades.

The tape was the was first proof in more than a year that the FARC's most famous hostage was still alive.

"A rescue, yes, absolutely. ... But not any kind of rescue. Rescues are either successful or they shouldn't happen," said Betancourt, looking thin but healthy.

"It is very important that it is the president who evaluates the risk, and for that matter the chances of success. ... I trust him," she added, a rosary wrapped around her hand.

Military rescues are risky operations in Colombia, the world's kidnapping capital. The heavily armed FARC executed a former defense minister, governor of Uribe's home province, and eight military personnel in May instead of turning the hostages over to an advancing military rescue team.

Betancourt said she heard of those deaths, but authorized a rescue attempt anyway.

Uribe, whose father was killed by rebels during a kidnap attempt, took office a year ago promising to get tough with Latin America's largest and oldest guerrilla army. The four-decade-old war claims thousands of lives a year.

His defense minister, Marta Lucia Ramirez, said the armed forces had a responsibility to find and free Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian national once subject of a glossy spread in Vanity Fair magazine and appeared on NBC's "Today Show."

The French-schooled politician was one of nearly 3,000 people abducted last year in Colombia. Most victims are sold-off by rebels for ransom money.

But Betancourt is a political prisoner who could face many more years in jungle prisons unless there a surprise peace gesture by the FARC, a prisoner swap or military rescue.

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