A statement which was released Tuesday said that the Colombian rebels will release three hostages to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Among the three hostages there is also an aide to former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, Clara Rojas, and her son Emmanuel.

Chavez, who was in Uruguay at a summit, confirmed the announcement made by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. He called release of the hostages “a great Christmas present,” Reuters reports.

But at the same time he said: “They are in the middle of the jungle and I can't go and receive them personally, even if I wanted to."

The announcement was made by an email to the Bogota office of Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency and said that they will free Clara Rojas, Rojas' son Emmanuel, and Consuelo Gonzalez, a former congresswoman who was kidnapped in 2001. The statement was dated December 9 and it didn’t say when the three will be released.

It also said that the hostages will be freed in Colombia to “Chavez or someone he designates,” the Associated Press informs.

Chavez is known for trying to negotiate the release of some 45 prisoners held by FARC in the exchange of several rebels kept in prison.

Unfortunately Colombian President Alvaro Uribe stopped Chavez last month saying that he went too far when he tried to contact Colombia’s head of the army.

Chavez said about receiving the hostages: “Starting today we have begun to see how we can receive these two ladies and the child.”

Rojas was kidnapped in February 2002 as she accompanied Betancourt in her campaign. According to a book that was launched last year by a Colombian journalist, her child, of 3 years old, Emmanuel, is the result of a relationship she had with one of her captors.

This month Uribe offered FARC a 60-square-mile "meeting point" in rural Colombia, where the two sides should meet with no weapons and discuss a possible release of the prisoners.

These conditions were rejected by the rebels and were called “unacceptable.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared that he was “delighted” about the news of the release.

The statement released by his office said: "Naturally, he is awaiting the decision to be confirmed, and especially that it become a reality."