Columbia rebels free hostages; Four politicians held by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for six years

More than six years of captivity has ended for four Colombian hostages.

Rebels handed over the four hostages - all Colombian politicians - to representatives of the Red Cross and the Venezuelan government about midday Wednesday.

Officials say the hostages were freed in a clearing in Colombia's southern jungles and were being taken aboard two Venezuelan helicopters to the Venezuelan border town of Santo Domingo.

From there they were being flown to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas to be reunited with their families.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has called the release a gesture of recognition for the mediation efforts of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who last month called on the international community to recognize the rebels as belligerents.

The rebels have proposed trading some 40 other high-value captives - including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defence contractors - for hundreds of imprisoned guerrillas. But they have been unable to agree with the hardline Colombian government of President Alvaro Uribe on conditions to begin a dialogue.

The rebels announced Jan. 31 they planned to free three of the hostages - former representatives Gloria Polanco and Orlando Beltran and ex-senator Luis Eladio Perez. Ex-senator Jorge Gechem was later added to the group.

Polanco is said to have suffer ailments that include thyroid problems, while Gechem has heart, back and ulcer problems.

Barbara Hintermann, the Red Cross' director for Colombia, told reporters in the Colombian capital of Bogota that all four were well enough to travel.

"It's a very important day for the Colombian people and for these four freed people," Hintermann said in announcing the handover.

Chavez, into whose custody they were released, spoke with them by phone after they were freed, said Jesse Chacon, a top aide to the president.

"They are safe and sound," Chacon said.

The FARC freed the four in the same region where it freed two other politicians on Jan. 10: Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez.

Venezuelan state radio called the operation "Camino a La Paz," or Path to Peace.

"This release is very positive, but the larger hostage-for-prisoner exchange process is as stuck as ever," said Adam Isacson, Colombia analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based think thank Center for International Policy.

"With this second unilateral release, the FARC are making clear that they only want to work with Hugo Chavez, as their preferred facilitator," he added.

Uribe has ruled out Chavez as an intermediary, however.

Daniel Polanco, the youngest of Gloria Polanco's three sons, was 11 years old when his mother was kidnapped.

"Such a kidnapping surely tears out one's insides," he told Colombia's Caracol radio in Caracas where he awaited his mother.

His two older brothers were seized with his mother and released in 2004 after a ransom was paid, but their father was later slain, allegedly by the FARC.