A mission to pick up hostages from a major rebel group looks set
for early Thursday after the Colombian government gave permission
to neighboring Venezuela to go ahead with rescue efforts.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's
major guerrilla group, announced Wednesday that it will release
former legislator Consuelo Gonzalez, former vice-presidential
candidate Clara Rojas in "a short time."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez confirmed the news, saying he
had got a message from FARC on the release of the two hostages.
"This morning we received a message from the FARC high command
giving the location of a mountain in Colombia where we can find
Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez," Chavez said at an event
welcoming Venezuela's volleyball team.
"Hopefully, Clara and Consuelo will be free in the coming
hours," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said.
Maduro "is sending a formal request to the Colombian government
so that, hopefully the first thing (on Thursday) is that the
Venezuelan helicopters ... could fly," said Chavez.
Colombia's high commissioner for peace Luis Carlos Restrepo told
reporters on Wednesday that the government will extend all its
guarantees to the mission to pick up Rojas and Gonzalez.
"This is a mission by the two governments with the participation
of the Red Cross, which not only protects the mission with its
emblems, but also will put in place the protocols that correspond
to this type of humanitarian action," Restrepo told a press
conference.
The government wants hostages to "return home as soon as
possible," he added.
Restrepo said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Maduro had quickly
sent a fax to his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Araujo detailing the
rescue mission.
Yves Heller, spokesman for the International Committee of the
Red Cross in Bogota, said the Geneva-based organization "confirms
that the humanitarian mission will be launched tomorrow, but can
neither confirm or deny that the hostage release will take place
the same day."
In a December statement, FARC had promised to release former
legislator Gonzalez, former vice-presidential candidate Rojas, and
Rojas's young son Emmanuel to Chavez, as a compensation for his
August-to-November mediation efforts.
Gonzalez's two daughters -- Patricia Elena and Maria Fernanda
Perdomo -- received the news with great joy in Venezuelan capital
Caracas, where they are waiting for the arrival of their
mother.
"We are very happy, very content to know that, God willing, my
mother could be free tomorrow," Patricia told the state television
there.
FARC kidnapped Gonzalez in the southeastern Colombian province
of Huila in 2001 and Rojas in southern Colombia's Caqueta in 2002,
alongside running mate Ingrid Betancourt, the rebels' highest
profile hostage, who has both French and Colombian citizenship.
FARC are holding 46 high-profile hostages hoping to swap them
for hundreds of jailed rebels.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2008)
