( AFP ) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday the only thing standing in the way of the release of three hostages held by Marxist rebels was the approval of the Colombian government.
The process for the release "has been agreed to the tiniest detail with the FARC commanders," Chavez, who has been involved in mediation efforts, told a news conference.
"The only thing missing is Colombia's authorization," he said, appealing for Bogota's "cooperation" to release the hostages, who include a top aide to prominent French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said on December 18 they would free former lawmaker Consuelo Gonzalez de Perdomo , 57; presidential campaign manager Clara Rojas, 44; and Emmanuel, 3, the son Rojas bore to a rebel in captivity.
FARC has said the captives would be handed to Chavez or a representative of his choice, but doubts over the release have grown as the three remained in rebel hands.
"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."
Chavez added that he hoped that all of the other hostages held by FARC, including Betancourt, would gain freedom in subsequent releases.
"We want to free all these people. Thanks be to God, I have faith that another group (will be freed) and I hope that this group will include our friend Ingrid Betancourt, and I told (French President Nicolas) Sarkozy that," Chavez added.
Betancourt was kidnapped along with Rojas in February 2002, and marked her 46th birthday on Tuesday, Christmas day.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had named Chavez in August a mediator in a possible swap of 45 hostages held by the rebels -- including Rojas, Betancourt and three American contractors -- for 500 FARC prisoners.
But Uribe stripped his Venezuelan counterpart of the role in November, accusing Chavez of breaking protocol by directly contacting a Colombian general.
Chavez, however, has continued to be involved in the effort to get some hostages freed.
The Venezuelan leader spent Christmas in a residence in the western state of Barinas , near the Colombian border, a region that is sometimes cited as a possible site for the release of the three hostages.