Colombia rebels free jubilant hostages from jungle

By Daniel Munoz

SAN JOSE DEL GUAVIARE, Colombia (Reuters) - With tears, smiles and long hugs, two women hostages were freed by Colombia's Marxist rebels on Thursday after years in the jungle, raising hopes for dozens more languishing in secret camps.

In a Venezuela-brokered deal, a helicopter flew deep into Colombia to pick up former vice-presidential candidate Clara Rojas and ex-congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez, and ferried them back across the border where a plane took them on to Caracas.

In parting, the two kissed young armed women rebels on the cheeks and shook hands with the men in a grassy jungle clearing near the Colombian town of San Jose del Guaviare.

They then hugged the team that flew in to rescue them and spoke to Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez with a satellite telephone, thanking him for his mediation, television images showed.

"Please president, don't drop your guard. The ones left behind want me to tell you that ... We have to carry on working." said Gonzalez, 57, whose husband died while she was six years in captivity. "A thousand thanks. You are helping us to live again."

Rojas, 44, who had a son by caesarean birth during her five years in captivity, appeared skinny and her brown hair fell across her face. Both women looked tired and pale but in generally sound health.

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

At an airport outside Caracas, relatives greeted the women with white lilies. Some wore T-shirts with a message: "Freedom for everyone now."