Newly-freed hostages Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Perez, Orlando Beltran and Jorge Gechem arrived on Wednesday Venezuela's Santo Domingo airport, Tachira state at 4:44 p.m. (2114 GMT) and started their trip to Venezuela's capital, Caracas.
The hostages liberated on Wednesday by Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) walked out of the Venezuelan helicopter and walked towards the airplane that would fly them to Caracas.
The FARC released them on Wednesday and handed them over to a Venezuelan government and International Red Cross Mission (ICRC).
Venezuela's Interior and Justice Minister Ramon Rodriguez, Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba, two physicians and two ICRC officials accompanied the former legislators in the trip.
The four Colombian politicians were picked up by Venezuelan helicopters in a rural zone called La Poderosa in Guaviare department, southeast of Colombia at 12:10 p.m. local time (1710 GMT).
In Caracas, the Venezuelan government spokesman stated that the four former FARC hostages are "safe and in good health."
Colombia's high peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said former senator Gechem's health is delicate, but allows his transfer to Venezuela.
The FARC handed over the four former legislators as a "redress" to the peace negotiations carried out by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez since his facilitation efforts were interrupted by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
Gloria Polanco's three children and the families of the other former legislators are waiting for them at Maiquetia's national airport, 20 minutes away from Caracas.
"We are happy, thanks to everybody that made this possible," said Alba Polanco.
The southwestern Venezuelan Tachira state is some 800 kilometers from Caracas representing an hour flight.
The four liberated former legislators formed part of 43 hostages held by the FARC with the intention of interchanging them for 500 FARC troops imprisoned by the Colombian government, among others that have been extradited to the United States.
Source: Xinhua
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