Freed hostages in Venezuela
TheVoiceInside
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http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/01/10/colombia.hostages/index.html
(CNN) -- Two hostages freed by Colombian rebels have landed in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, where dozens of their friends and family carrying flowers clapped and embraced them.
The pair are Consuelo Gonzalez, a Colombian politician who had been in custody for more than 6½ years, and Clara Rojas, an aide to fellow hostage and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. The rebels have not agreed to release Betancourt.
Rojas kissed her white-haired mother, who was using a walker and wearing a cross on a necklace.
She pulled back a few inches to gaze at her and say a few words, then pulled her close for another embrace.
Gonzalez was handed a child who appeared too young to have been alive when she was last free, then was handed a cell phone on which she began to talk.
She then embraced her daughter Maria Fernanda. "It's the best day of my life," Maria Fernanda told a reporter afterward. "This is a dream become reality."
Many of the relatives greeting Rojas and Gonzalez wore T-shirts reading "Liberty for everyone!" -- a reference to the several hundred remaining hostages. Watch the hostages as they see their relatives for the first time »
After the tramac reunion, they were taken to the presidential palace, where Chavez embraced them both repeatedly.
The two women were freed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by their Spanish acronym FARC, in a deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
They were picked up by two Red Cross helicopters and flown to the Venezuelan border town of Santo Domingo, where they strode about 100 yards to a waiting jet, which took off a few minutes later for Caracas.
Both women thanked Chavez in telephone conversations videotaped by the rescuers. "You're helping us, president, return to life. Thank you, Mr. President," Rojas said.
Im no fan of Chavez but I thought he should get a little more airtime for this.
(CNN) -- Two hostages freed by Colombian rebels have landed in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, where dozens of their friends and family carrying flowers clapped and embraced them.
The pair are Consuelo Gonzalez, a Colombian politician who had been in custody for more than 6½ years, and Clara Rojas, an aide to fellow hostage and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. The rebels have not agreed to release Betancourt.
Rojas kissed her white-haired mother, who was using a walker and wearing a cross on a necklace.
She pulled back a few inches to gaze at her and say a few words, then pulled her close for another embrace.
Gonzalez was handed a child who appeared too young to have been alive when she was last free, then was handed a cell phone on which she began to talk.
She then embraced her daughter Maria Fernanda. "It's the best day of my life," Maria Fernanda told a reporter afterward. "This is a dream become reality."
Many of the relatives greeting Rojas and Gonzalez wore T-shirts reading "Liberty for everyone!" -- a reference to the several hundred remaining hostages. Watch the hostages as they see their relatives for the first time »
After the tramac reunion, they were taken to the presidential palace, where Chavez embraced them both repeatedly.
The two women were freed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by their Spanish acronym FARC, in a deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
They were picked up by two Red Cross helicopters and flown to the Venezuelan border town of Santo Domingo, where they strode about 100 yards to a waiting jet, which took off a few minutes later for Caracas.
Both women thanked Chavez in telephone conversations videotaped by the rescuers. "You're helping us, president, return to life. Thank you, Mr. President," Rojas said.
Im no fan of Chavez but I thought he should get a little more airtime for this.
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