Venezuela's government released videos of Colombian soldiers and police officers held hostage by leftist rebels on Friday, saying it has received "proof-of-life" for 10 captives.
The young men addressed the camera with a sheet strung up as a backdrop, several of them thanking Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for his efforts to negotiate hostage releases. Justice Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, who showed parts of the videos at a news conference, said they included hostages' personal messages to their families. "We hope they may be freed next, but everything depends on a process of negotiation," Chacin said.
Chavez said at a summit in the Dominican Republic that the videos were given to his government by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which holds hundreds of hostages in Colombian jungles.
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