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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is spearheading the effort, said the helicopters marked with International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) emblems could take off from Villavicencio, in central Colombia, on Saturday.

But the time and location of the pick-up were still uncertain.Chavez said on Friday the mission was still waiting for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to disclose the jungle location where they will release former lawmaker Consuelo Gonzalez de Perdomo, 57, Clara Rojas, 44, and Emmanuel, Rojas's three-year-old son, born to a rebel in captivity.

The women were snatched in 2001 and 2002 respectively. The mission to pick them up is dubbed "Operation Emmanuel".

"We have a little problem, which is that we don't have the exact coordinates of where they are or are going to be," Chavez said earlier in the Venezuelan town of Santo Domingo, where he personally supervised the mission's launch.

The FARC have not gotten the coordinates to us."

Colombian and Venezuelan government officials were meeting here with the ICRC to finalise details of the operation, said presidential spokesman Cesar Mauricio Velazquez.

The ICRC had ruled out carrying out the mission on Friday, saying it was too dark to fly into the jungle.

"We can leave tomorrow, but that depends on several factors including the weather," said ICRC Colombian delegate Barbara Hintermann.

Chavez said on Friday a FARC patrol escorting the hostages was moving "but the weather is bad and travel is difficult".

"I hope there will be good weather tomorrow, that we can fill in some small details that are missing and I hope that tomorrow we can complete the operation."

He said FARC commander Ivan Marquez had reported US-made military surveillance planes flying over the area. "I hope this does not interfere," he said.

"If there were any problem finding the spot, for some military or weather reason, we would be ready to conduct ground operations, but for that we would need permission" from Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Chavez said.

The handover could take place anywhere in a 310,000-square-kilometre wilderness in central and eastern Colombia, where there are few roads but numerous landing strips used by drug traffickers.

Colombia's Civil Defence has made available a 100-strong search-and-rescue team of indigenous Colombians "who know the jungle very well", said Jorge Diaz, civil defence director for Villavicencio.

Chavez has choreographed an elaborate plan, under the auspices of the ICRC, to pick up the three hostages whom FARC vowed on December 18 to release to him.

Photo  AFP

Vocabulary

hostage, n: person who is seized or held as security for something the hostage-taker wishes to be fulfilled

emblem, n: sign that identifies the representative of an organisation

to disclose, v: to let know; to make known; to make public

to snatch, v: to take away quickly and by force

coordinates, n: horizontal and vertical position on a grid; longitude and latitude

to rule out, v: to say something is impossible; to dismiss

to escort, v: to go with somebody for company or to provide safety

surveillance, n: keeping watch on a person or group in order to check what they are doing

to interfere, v: to obstruct or hinder an action or process

indigenous, adj: coming from a particular area

Questions

1. Why didn't the ICRC pick up the hostages?

a. They didn't know the location.

b. They didn't want to get involved.

c. They had no means of transportation.

d. They wanted these people to remain hostages.

2. In what country are the hostages being released?

a. Chile

b. America

c. Colombia

d. Venezuela

3. What does FARC stand for?

a. Free Armed Rebels Committee

b. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

c. Freedom Army of Revolutionary Communists

d. Ferocious Association of Ravenous Cannibals

4. What happens if the helicopters can't find the pick-up point?

a. Ground personnel will be sent.

b. They will land and wait for the hostages.

c. They will circle until they have found the hostages.

d. They will advance to meet the hostages on the way.

5. Who is Hugo Chavez?

a. President of Venezuela

b. Spokesman of the ICRC

c. Commander of the FARC

d. Villavicencio defence director

Synonyms

Which of the following words or phrases replace the ones from the passage best?

1. spearhead

a. direct

b. oppose

c. support

d. welcome

2. uncertain

a. fixed

b. unclear

c. dictated

d. non-negotiable

3. dub

a. join

b. name

c. submit

d. support

4. fill in

a. forge

b. ignore

c. complete

d. determine

5. auspices

a. threat

b. blame

c. support

d. opposition

KEY

Questions     1.  a, 2. c, 3.  b, 4. a, 5. a

Synonyms     1.  a, 2. b, 3.  b, 4. c ,5. c

By Ajarn Horst Baelz