MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Two women Colombian hostages to be released Thursday

FARC and Chavez green light to launch a rescue mission

Colombia's government on Wednesday approved a mission sponsored by Venezuela to free two hostages held by cocaine funded leftist rebels, said a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"We will participate in this humanitarian mission, which was announced by (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez and approved by the Colombian government," said Yves Heller, spokesman for the Red Cross in Colombia. The mission is expected to take place on Thursday. Early Wednesday President Chavez announced he had received the coordinates to collect in Colombia the hostages held by FARC, Clara Rojas and Consuelo González. "Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolas Maduro is sending an official communication to the Colombian government so hopefully tomorrow Thursday early morning the Venezuelan helicopters with Red Cross signals can leave for the Guaviare region", announced Chavez during a sports event in Caracas. "The boy Emmanuel (son of hostage Clara Rojas and a guerrilla leader) is already in Bogotá, thanks God", added Chavez. Last December 18 FARC offered to release Clara Rojas, her son and Consuelo González but the mission under Venezuelan command to make the handover in Colombia was indefinitively suspended December 31 when it was revealed that Emmanuel back in 2005 had been abandoned in a Colombian government orphanage and was currently living in a foster home in Bogota. DNA tests of Emmanuel and his uncles and grandmother conducted by Colombian doctors concluded that the child was the son of Ms Rojas. However since the FARC and President Chavez questioned the tests, samples were taken to Spain. Mitochondrial DNA tests undertaken in a lab in north Spain confirmed that the child is the son of Ms Rojas.