Venezuela helicopters fly to free Colombia hostages
SAN JOSE DEL GUAVIARE, Colombia (Reuters) - Two Venezuelanhelicopters flew into Colombia on Wednesday to pick up fourlawmakers held hostage for years in jungle camps by Marxistrebels, in a diplomatic victory for Venezuela's President HugoChavez.
The white Venezuelan helicopters painted with the symbol ofthe Red Cross flew from this steamy town into Colombia's densejungle to an undisclosed location where the rebels were to freethree men and a woman they kidnapped over six years ago.
The imminent release raised hopes for a broader deal withthe Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to freedozens more hostages, including French-Colombian politicianIngrid Betancourt and three Americans whose plight has drawnworldwide attention to the rebels' captives.
The FARC last month released two politicians in a dealbrokered by Chavez.
The leftist Chavez had spent months in talks with theleaders of Latin America's oldest rebel force, but after closeinitial cooperation, Chavez and Colombia's conservativePresident Alvaro Uribe have bickered over his mediation.
The new release would be a victory for Chavez, whoconsiders himself a statesman and spends time and money inefforts to unite Latin America through socialism.
The hostages to be freed on Wednesday are lawmakers GloriaPolanco, Luis Eladio Perez, Orlando Beltran and Jorge Gechem,who is believed to be suffering heart problems.
"I am without words right now, but when I see him and hughim I know many words will pour from my heart," Gechem's wifeLucy de Gechem told television station Globovision. Therelatives said they planned to watch TV all day to see theoperation unfold.
Gechem was snatched six years ago when rebels hijacked acommercial aircraft he was travelling on.
Polanco was kidnapped with her two sons who were laterreleased. Her husband, a prominent politician was killed by theFARC in unclear circumstances.
FARC-FRIENDLY CHAVEZ?
The outspoken Chavez angered Uribe and Washington lastmonth by demanding political recognition for the FARC, whichthe United States and the European Union label acocaine-smuggling terrorist group.
Chavez often invokes the idea of Gran Colombia, a briefhistorical moment when Venezuela was united with its neighbour.He would like to broker a deal to end decades of civil war inthe Andean nation, but analysts think this is unlikely.
Uribe, whose father was killed in a botched FARCkidnapping, is popular domestically for launching a U.S.-backedarmy offensive that has driven the rebels out of huge swathesof the country into smaller jungle enclaves.
U.S. Republican representatives accuse Chavez of being softon drug and gun-running across the porous border with Colombiaand of allowing FARC rebels to take refuge in his country.
International pressure has built recently for a hostagedeal; France, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela are engaged inefforts to free captives. French President Nicolas Sarkozy hasmade Betancourt's release a policy priority and his foreignminister visited the region in February
Grim images of Betancourt and other captives in secretcamps last year sparked outrage over the hostages' poor health,their haunted faces revealing the stress of living for yearshidden in the jungle.
The two women politicians released last month were in soundhealth.
The guerrilla fighters hold hundreds of hostages for ransomand political leverage in their four-decade war with the state.They say they are fighting for social justice and want to swaptheir captives for fighters in government jails.
The recent releases have been unilateral and are describedby the fighters as a gesture of goodwill to Chavez, who theysee as a sympathetic leader.
(Additional reporting by Patricia Rondon in Caracas;Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Saul Hudson and KieranMurray and Jackie Frank)