CHAVEZ

SAN JOSE DE GUAVIARE, Colombia (AP):

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced that two hostages were freed by Colombian rebels yesterday. He spoke with the Colombian women by phone and they are being flown out of the jungle aboard Venezuelan helicopters.

Chávez said, in Caracas, that Clara Rojas, an aide to former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez, would arrive in Venezuela within about three hours.

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed the two women were turned over by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.