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CARACAS-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Colombian Marxist rebels could free three hostages as early as Thursday after the Colombian government approved a handover plan he devised with the guerrillas.Bogota gave its nod to the plan Wednesday, hours after Chavez said it was the only thing needed to launch the operation to pick up the two women and a child from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)."We are asking the Colombian government to cooperate with us," Chavez said, adding that "We have different options for a secret release but we do not want that, it is very risky."As relatives of the three rejoiced, Chavez described his plan to pluck former lawmaker Consuelo Gonzalez de Perdomo, 57; Clara Rojas, 44; and Emmanuel, 3, the son Rojas bore to a rebel in captivity, from a secret location deep in the jungle. The women have been held since 2001 and 2002, respectively.Rojas was the presidential campaign manager of French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt when the two were abducted by FARC in February 2002. Betancourt remains in captivity.Rojas and Betancourt are among 45 hostages, including three Americans, whom the rebels want to exchange for some 500 FARC members held by the Colombian government. But the two sides have not agreed on conditions for the swap.Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had named Chavez as a mediator for the possible swap but stripped him of the role after the Venezuelan leader ignored his demand that he not directly contact his generals.But Chavez has remained involved in the hostages situation, and the FARC announced on December 18 that they would free the three hostages to him or a representative of his choosing.Under the plan unveiled Wednesday, Venezuelan airplanes and helicopters will fly into Colombia with representatives of France, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia and Ecuador, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross.Chavez will be represented in the operation by former Venezuelan interior minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, while Colombia has designated its High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo.The release "has been agreed to the tiniest detail with the FARC commanders," said Chavez, who has been involved in mediation efforts with the rebels."If the operation begins tomorrow (Thursday) morning, before the day is over Clara, Consuelo and Emmanuel could be here," he said, adding that he had been given information that the three are in good health.Chavez said the airborne caravan would travel to the Colombian city of Villavicencio, in Meta department, which lies approximately one hour's flight from the border and 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Bogota.From there two helicopters will fly to a rendez-vous point that will be set by the FARC and communicated only to Venezuelan authorities.The freed hostages will be taken to Villavicencio and then head to Venezuela before heading back to Colombia.Bogota, which has testy relations with Caracas and had been largely sidelined in the hostage handover drama, quickly approved the plan."The government of Colombia authorizes the humanitarian mission in the terms of its missive," Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo said in Bogota."For constitutional reasons, the aircraft employed in this humanitarian mission should carry the emblems of the International Red Cross," he added.In Bogota, elated relatives began to form their own travel plans."Soon we will have the final result, having her home again," Ivan Rojas, Clara Rojas's brother, told AFP. "I think that tomorrow, we will travel to Villavicencio. Definitely God is with us.""We are very, very happy, we already feel that my mother, Clara and Emmanuel are very, very close, thanks to God," said Maria Fernanda Perdomo, a daughter of the abducted lawmaker.She said her family was waiting for instructions about where to go. "Our greatest wish is to embrace my mother as soon as possible," she told Caracol television.The FARC, a 17,000-strong group that has waged an insurgency against the Colombian government for more than 40 years, holds close to 800 hostages.As in the days of Noah....
