Chavez: 2 hostages freed by rebels
SAN JOSE DE GUAVIARE, Colombia (AP) - January 10, 2008 The release of Clara Rojas, an aide to former Colombian
presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, and former congresswoman
Consuelo Gonzalez, was a major victory for Chavez, whose leftist
ideology has helped make him a key mediator with the rebels.
The Caracas-based Telesur network showed the two women smiling
as they were freed by rebels in fatigues.
"President, a thousand thanks for your humanitarian gesture,"
Gonzalez told Chavez on a satellite phone.
"We are being reborn," a beaming Rojas told Chavez.
The two - who appeared thin, though in relatively good condition
- were flown by helicopter to an airstrip in the Venezuelan border
town of Santo Domingo, where they were helped onto a small
passenger jet for the flight to Caracas.
Two women embraced teary-eyed relatives who met them on the
tarmac at Simon Bolivar International Airport outside the
Veneuzuelan capital.
Chavez engineered 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.
"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."
Rojas 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.
Colombian 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.
In 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.
But 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 - who was fathered in captivity by one of her guerrilla
captors.
That 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.
Chavez 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.
Still, 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.
Colombian 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.
"The minimum we can do is offer all sides the tranquility that
we're going to respect all the ground rules," he said.
Rojas elderly mother, Clara Gonzalez de Rojas, was overcome with
emotion as she spoke to Caracol TV from Caracas, where she waited
for three weeks to be reunited with her daughter.
"This is the biggest miracle God could have ever given me,"
Rojas said, holding back tears. "I'll be truly happy when I go
with my daughter to retrieve my little grandson."
Rojas said child welfare authorities assured her that Emmanuel
"is in good health. He's a very loving baby, full of smiles, who
inspires lots of tenderness - beautiful for a child who in his
short life has had to overcome so much."
The 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.
"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."
Gallegos had no comment about Chavez's involvement in the
release.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has pushed hard for the
release of the French-Colombian Betancourt, said his country was
"deeply overjoyed," adding: "This proves that things are moving,
that the mobilization is bringing its first results. This commits
us to boosting our efforts to bring the other hostages home."
Yolanda Pulecio, Betancourt's mother, said she would fly to
Caracas to see Rojas, and called the liberation proof that Chavez'
methods work.
"It's necessary for the guerrillas to show the international
community they're really interested in the fate of the hostages,"
she said.
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Associated Press writers Joshua Goodman in Bogota, Colombia;
Toby Muse in San Jose de Guaviare, Colombia; Angela Doland in
Paris; and Christopher Toothaker and Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas
contributed to this report.