Toby Muse

SAN JOSE DE GUAVIARE, Colombia – Colombian rebels freed two women held hostage for more than five years, handing them over Thursday to Venezuelan officials who flew them toward Caracas where a triumphant President Hugo Chavez awaited.\nChavez said he spoke by telephone with the two women, Clara Rojas, an aide to former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, and former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez.\nThe Red Cross, which was involved in the handover, confirmed that rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had turned over the women. It said the mission was headed to the Venezuelan border town of Santo Domingo before flying the women to waiting relatives in Caracas.\nIt was the most important hostage release in the Colombian conflict since 2001, when the FARC freed some 300 soldiers and police officers. Chavez said he hopes the mission opens the way for the release of more hostages.\n“Venezuela will continue opening the way for peace in Colombia. We are ready, and in contact with the FARC, and we hope the Colombian government understands. I’m sure they will understand,” Chavez said. “The world wants peace for Colombia.”\nRojas was kidnapped in February 2002 while campaigning with Betancourt in a FARC-dominated region of southern Colombia. Gonzalez was abducted by the FARC in September 2001 near the city of Neiva.\nColombian President Alvaro Uribe authorized Venezuela to lead the rescue mission despite a bitter clash with Chavez over his involvement in Colombia’s half-century-old guerrilla conflict.\nIn November, Uribe abruptly ended efforts by Chavez to broker a swap of 46 high-profile hostages – including Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors – for hundreds of jailed rebels. He accused Chavez of unauthorized direct contacts with Colombia’s military.\nBut relatives of the hostages urged Chavez to continue, and the FARC, which deeply distrusts Uribe, rewarded his efforts by offering to release the two women and Rojas’s 3-year-old son, Emmanuel – \nwho was fathered in captivity by one of her guerrilla captors.\nThat fell through: The FARC accused Colombia’s U.S.-backed military of sabotaging the handoff with operations in the area, while Uribe’s government said the guerrillas backed out of the deal because they didn’t have the child hostage.\nChavez immediately sided with the guerrillas, calling Uribe a “puppet” and “lapdog” of Washington. DNA tests later proved the rebels did not have Emmanuel, who has been in a Bogota foster home for more than two years.\nStill, Uribe’s government bent to domestic and international pressure to open its airspace for the new Venezuelan rescue mission and suspend military operations in a Vermont-sized slice of jungle in southeastern Guaviare state, a FARC stronghold.\nColombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said his troops held their fire as they saw the Venezuelan helicopters land just over a mile from where they were stationed, adding that troops would wait until sundown before resuming operations.\n“The minimum we can do is offer all sides the tranquility that we’re going to respect all the ground rules,” he said.\nThe Bush administration, which has had tense relations with the leftist Chavez, welcomed the hostages’ release and reiterated its call for the FARC to release all of its captives.\n“We’re pleased that the Colombian government has authorized the Venezuelan government to send aircraft to Colombia marked with International Red Cross logos and carrying an international commission to recover the hostages,” said State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos. “We call on the FARC to release all hostages that it holds and we continue to support President Uribe’s efforts to that end.”