Colombian rebels free hostages

Marxist rebels freed four Colombian hostages from their "living death" in the jungle on Wednesday in a victory for Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez, who brokered the deal.

Venezuelan helicopters painted with Red Cross logos swooped into dense jungle, picked up the four lawmakers - all taken by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, more than six years ago - and flew them to Venezuela.

"I was the living dead but today ... I am happy, lucky, radiant," ex-hostage Gloria Polanco said. She carried long-stemmed flowers for her three children, adding between sobs, "It's the only thing I can take from the jungle."

Flanked by armed rebels, the three men and Polanco trekked down a muddy slope of a jungle clearing near this steamy town and pumped their hands in the air to celebrate their release by Latin America's oldest insurgency.

They appeared generally in sound health, although one of the men, who had suffered heart problems, looked gaunt.

They also warned that the highest-profile of the dozens of captives left behind -- Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian woman politician, and three U.S. anti-drugs contractors -- was suffering from health problems and low morale.

Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate whose case is a policy priority for the French government, is mistreated, kept in chains, has a serious liver problem and is mentally exhausted, they said.

The Americans have jungle illnesses and injuries received when their aircraft crashed in the jungle while on a anti-drug mission in 2003 leading to their capture, they added. They were also despondent because hopes they could be exchanged for rebel leaders in U.S. prison appeared to have faded this year.

Chavez, who welcomed the ex-hostages at a red-carpet, honour-guard ceremony in his palace, appealed at the televised event to the FARC's chief to move Betancourt to an area where she might receive better treatment and eventually be freed.

URIBE TALKS TOUGH

The release, welcomed from France to the United States, is a victory for Chavez, an important regional player who leads a growing group of socialist leaders in Latin America and often bickers with U.S.-backed Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

"The FARC should understand the Colombian people expect them to release all the hostages in their power," Uribe said in a television address in which he thanked Chavez.

Uribe, whose father was killed in a botched FARC kidnapping, is popular at home for a U.S.-backed military offensive that has forced the rebels from swathes of Colombia.

Venezuelan officials said Wednesday's handover raised hopes for a broader deal to free dozens more hostages the FARC wants to swap for imprisoned rebels.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy praised Wednesday's operation and called for the rapid liberation of all hostages. The United States also urged the rebels to free all captives.

The FARC last month released two politicians in a deal also brokered by Chavez in the first such breakthrough in years.

He had spent months in talks with the guerrilla force, but angered Uribe and Washington by calling for the FARC to be taken off terrorism lists.

Hundreds of thousands of Colombians took to the streets in February to protest against the guerrillas, who finance their war by trafficking cocaine.

The guerrillas, who say they are fighting for social justice, and want to swap their captives hold hundreds of hostages for ransom and political leverage in their four-decade war with the state.

The recent releases have been unilateral and are described by the fighters as a gesture of goodwill to Chavez, whom they see as a sympathetic leader.

The FARC reiterated its demand Uribe briefly demilitarize a New York City-sized area for the handover of other captives. He has offered a smaller area for a prisoner swap.