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COLOMBIA - Marxist rebels freed two women hostages from Colombia's jungle on Thursday in a deal brokered by Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, that could mark a breakthrough in peace efforts.
Two white Venezuelan helicopters with huge Red Cross logos blazoned on their sides picked up the hostages from the Colombian jungle around the town of San Jose del Guaviare after a similar plan collapsed on New Year's Eve.
"I told them: `Welcome to life, welcome to life'," Chavez said at his presidential palace in Caracas, relating a telephone conversation he held with the two women.
The women were emotional and in good health, Chavez said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which aided the rescue mission, confirmed they had been freed.
It was the first major breakthrough for years in moves toward peace between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, Latin America's oldest guerrilla group.
It should also bolster the standing at home and abroad of both Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, despite weeks of bickering over the deal.
Venezuela collected Clara Rojas - an aide to former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt - and former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez. Rojas had a son with one of her rebel captors while she was held hostage.
The two women had been held for more than five years and will be flown later on Thursday to Venezuela.
San Jose del Guaviare is a heavily militarized area because the FARC controls the surrounding region, which is densely planted with coca crops used by the guerrillas and other illegal groups to make cocaine.
The release raised hopes for a wider exchange of rebel-held hostages, including Betancourt, for guerrillas held in government jails.
But achieving peace is far more elusive in a decades-old war that kills hundreds each year despite a recent ebb in violence.
"It is not clear if this could also set the stage for a peace process with the FARC," said Pablo Casas, an analyst with Bogota think tank Security and Democracy.
Chavez last year brokered a deal with the FARC to release the two hostages and Gonzalez's son, but the mission crumbled as it emerged the child had been moved from the jungle and was in foster care.
- REUTERS
