Venezuela's Chavez waiting for word from Colombian rebels on hostage release

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he is waiting to hear from Colombia's largest rebel group about two rebel-held hostages that the guerrillas promised to release to the leftist leader last month.

Chavez lamented that his initiative to help free the hostages _ former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez and former vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas _ failed last week, when rebels said operations by Colombia's U.S.-backed military had prevented a planned handover.

"We continue waiting for new contacts for the liberation of Clara and Consuelo," Chavez said during his weekly television and radio program "Hello President."

The FARC had vowed to release Gonzalez and Rojas, along with a 3-year-old Colombian boy named Emmanuel _ the product of a relationship between Rojas and a guerrilla fighter.

But the rebels failed to free the hostages despite efforts by Chavez to facilitate the release. Results of a DNA test later proved Emmanuel has been in a Bogota foster home for more than two years, rather than held captive in the jungle by rebels.

"The nicest and most important thing is that Emmanuel is free," Chavez said, acknowledging the results of the DNA test. Previously, Chavez said "the FARC will have to explain to the world" if rebels were not holding the boy in the jungle as they had claimed.

After the DNA test results were release, the FARC accused the Colombian government of "kidnapping" the boy to sabotage Chavez's efforts to broker the release.

The FARC is holding 44 other prominent hostages _ including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors kidnapped nearly six years ago.

Rebels are offering to free them only in exchange for hundreds of imprisoned guerrillas. Numerous obstacles to a prisoner swap remain, such as the FARC's demand that high-ranking rebels in U.S. custody be freed.