Kidnapped politicians 'to be freed' in Columbia

Colombia’s largest guerrilla group is expected to release three captive politicians in the coming days or weeks, France’s foreign minister says.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, will probably free political leader Gloria Polanco, former senator Luis Eladio Perez, ex-congressman Orlando Beltran and possibly a fourth unnamed politician “within several days or weeks”, foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said he was told in a closed-door meeting with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez yesterday.