Colombia rebels free hostages from jungle

Marxist rebels freed two women hostages held for years in Colombia's jungle in a Venezuelan-brokered deal on Thursday, raising hopes for dozens of other captives languishing in secret camps.

Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez said the helicopters he sent into Colombia had picked up former vice-presidential candidate Clara Rojas and ex-congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez, and were flying them to freedom.

"I told them: 'Welcome to life, welcome to life," Chavez said at his presidential palace in Caracas after speaking by telephone with the two women.

He said they were excited and in good health after being handed over in an undisclosed location near the Colombian jungle town of San Jose del Guaviare.

It was the first time Latin America's oldest rebel group has freed any of its high-profile hostages, who include former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.

The two women released on Thursday had been held for more than five years and will be flown to Venezuela later in the day to meet relatives.

"It still seems like I'm kind of dreaming," said Rojas' mother Clara de Rojas in Caracas, her voice choked with tears.

A similar rescue plan collapsed on New Year's Eve but the success of the mission on Thursday should bolster the standing at home and abroad of both Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe despite weeks of bickering over the deal.

The rebels' gesture also spurred some hopes for a wider exchange of guerrillas held in government jails for hostages, including Betancourt, a French-Colombian politician whose case is being closely followed in France.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the release of Rojas and Gonzalez was an incentive to keep working to free other captives.

"France is delighted," he said in the courtyard of the Elysee Palace.

LONG WAR

Still, ending Colombia's decades-old war remains a difficult challenge. The conflict is fuelled by the country's cocaine trade and kills hundreds of people each year despite a recent ebb in violence.

Chavez last month brokered a deal with the FARC to release the two hostages as well as Rojas's son, who was born while she was a hostage.

That highly publicized mission crumbled and a Venezuelan air convoy limped home empty-handed after it emerged the child, Emmanuel, whose father was one of Rojas' rebel captors, had been moved from the jungle and put in foster care in 2005.

The failure further frayed strained ties between Chavez and Uribe, making some political analysts sceptical that Thursday's release will quickly lead to other moves.

"This is no reason for a lot of optimism for future hostage releases, and a peace process with the FARC is not even on the table," said Colombian political analyst Ricardo Avila.

Chavez and FARC leaders accused Uribe of scuttling the last mission by carrying out military operations in the area. Uribe denied the charges, and Colombian officials said guerrilla leaders had duped Chavez.

The FARC, a peasant army created in the 1960s and now largely funded by Colombia's cocaine trade, uses kidnapping as part of its war against the state.

It holds hundreds of hostages, including Betancourt, who was kidnapped along with Rojas while running for president in 2002, and three U.S. anti-drug contractors captured the following year.