Colombia Okays Venezuelan Mission To Pick Up Hostages

CARACAS, Venezuela — Colombia agreed yesterday to allow President Chavez of Venezuela to send his planes and helicopters into its territory to pick up three hostages who have been held for years by leftist rebels.

Mr. Chavez said he hoped the hostages — including a mother and her young son — could be on Venezuelan soil by sundown today.

Colombia's largest rebel group announced last week that it would unilaterally hand over the three hostages to Mr. Chavez, demonstrating the guerrillas' affinity for the socialist leader. It also sidelined the American-allied Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, by preventing him from assuming a leading role in the release.

Mr. Chavez had been trying to negotiate the release of 47 high-profile captives until Mr. Uribe abruptly called him off last month, saying Mr. Chavez overstepped his mandate by directly contacting the head of Colombia's army.

The Venezuelan leader has since frozen relations with Mr. Uribe, whose decision provoked an outcry among relatives of the hostages. Yesterday, Colombia said it had authorized the Venezuelan mission, and Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo, after conferring with Mr. Uribe, thanked Mr. Chavez for his efforts. Mr. Araujo said his government was appointing Colombia's top peace negotiator, Luis Carlos Restrepo, as its delegate to an international committee of observers to oversee the hostages' liberation.

The hostages include a former Colombian congresswoman, Consuelo Gonzalez, and Clara Rojas — an aide to a former Colombian presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt — and Ms. Rojas's young son, Emmanuel, reportedly born of a relationship with a guerrilla fighter.