Two Venezuelan helicopters arrived Thursday in the Colombian town of San Jose del Guaviare and then left for the jungle in a second attempt to secure the release of two hostages held by leftist rebels, according to dpa. The effort seeks to secure the freedom of former vice presidential candidate, Clara Rojas, 44, and former legislator Consuelo Gonzalez, 57. The two women have been held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for several years, along with hundreds of other civilians and Colombian officials, some of whom have been held for more than 10 years. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday the helicopters would fly to the Colombian province of Guaviare, and that he expected Rojas and Gonzalez to be free Thursday since FARC had given him their coordinates. The Colombian government authorized the mission and ordered the suspension of military operations in a large area of the southern province of Guaviare. The helicopters refilled their fuel tanks in San Jose del Guaviare and then left in search of the exact coordinates where FARC said the the hostages could be found. The machines were expected to travel directly back to Venezuela. Colombian High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo met with the delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that are involved in the mission. However, at the request of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, the commissioner did not travel with the team, for fear that the rebels might attack him. Restrepo said Venezuelan Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, an assistant, the Cuban Ambassador in Venezuela, Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba, who mediated for the hostages release with Chavez last year, and four ICRC delegates made up the team. The commissioner said the helicopters were expected to travel to the designated place and wait one hour for the arrival of the rebels and their hostages. If they do not arrive in this period, the whole operation would be aborted. Following the handover of Rojas and Gonzalez, ICRC delegates are to wait two hours before leaving, in order to give rebels enough time to go back into the jungle. Restrepo said the helicopters would then head directly back to Venezuela, although they might stop over at San Jose del Guaviare or Yopal to refill their tanks for the flight back. Unlike a high-profile international effort to free the hostages that failed last week, the latest operation was being handled with great discretion by the Venezuelan government. Venezuelan helicopters were flying under ICRC symbols. The Red Cross was taking part in the operation alongside the governments of Venezuela and Colombia. Irma Alvarez, spokeswoman for the ICRC in Venezuela, said the Colombian government guaranteed the security of those involved in the effort. The operation to free the two hostages, and Rojas' 3-year-old son Emmanuel, failed last week, apparently due to the fact that the boy had already been released to a child protection facility in 2005. Gonzalez, then a legislator, was kidnapped on September 10, 2001. Rojas, in turn, was kidnapped on February 23, 2002 along with her party's presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who holds dual French-Colombian citizenship and is the highest-profile hostage held by FARC.
