By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
 

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 23 -- After holding them in jungle camps for two years, Colombia's second-largest leftist insurgency freed 42 police officers and
soldiers today in a Christmas gesture that government officials said could help start formal peace talks with the guerrilla group.

The National Liberation Army, or ELN, released the hostages late this afternoon in Colombia's remote Catatumbo region, near the border with Venezuela. The men,
captured in battle, were flown by Red Cross helicopter to the city of Bucaramanga, where they were given medical attention and psychiatric examinations and
reunited with their families. Colombian officials described them as generally healthy.

A rare sign of reconciliation in a country wracked by civil strife, the hostage release followed two weeks of negotiations in Havana between ELN leaders and Camilo
Gomez, Colombia's peace commissioner. President Andres Pastrana, who has made little headway fulfilling his 1998 campaign pledge to end Colombia's
decades-old civil conflict, said earlier this week the release would be "an act of peace" that might lead to formal negotiations with the ELN after years of informal
talks.

The government's modest success with the ELN, a 5,000-member guerrilla force known for its audacious mass kidnappings, stands in contrast to Pastrana's faltering
efforts with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as the largest insurgency is known. FARC leaders walked away from peace talks last month after
accusing the government of failing to confront right-wing paramilitary groups that are their chief rivals for control of drug-producing areas.

But even after today's release, more than 2,500 kidnapping victims remain hostage in Colombia, according to government figures. And while the handover was
roundly praised as a show of good will, the ELN has not renounced kidnapping as Pastrana has requested. It holds more than 700 Colombians captive, more than
any other armed group.

The timing of the release coincided with ELN efforts to secure a safe haven in the northern state of Bolivar, a smaller version of the FARC's Switzerland-size
demilitarized zone in southern Colombia. Such a zone would be used as a venue for peace talks, which is also the idea behind the FARC's zone of control.

Colombia's El Espectador newspaper quoted the government's peace official in the northwestern state of Antioquia today as saying a decision on whether to create
the zone could be made by the end of the year. But the idea has met stiff resistance from residents of the region, who fear the ELN will become the de facto
government.

In the two-year-old FARC zone, which Pastrana recently renewed through January, the group has increased drug cultivation and has continued to hold some 450
police officers and soldiers captive in jungle pens.

The ELN's second in command, Antonio Garcia, speaking several days before the release, called it "a gesture in which we hope to put the peace process on track."

Leftist students and radical priests, many of them trained in Cuba, created the ELN in the 1960s as an alternative to the largely rural-based FARC. The ELN's top
commanders use Havana as one of several bases of operation and Cuban President Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, who runs the military, reportedly joined the
release negotiations at one point.

The ELN is known for targeting Colombia's vital oil industry and has recently engineered several mass kidnappings that help finance its operations. But the group has
suffered setbacks at the hands of the Colombian army and increasingly powerful right-wing paramilitary groups. Many political analysts believe the leadership is eager
for peace.

ELN leaders did not officially seek anything in return for the hostages' freedom. They promised to release the remaining six police officers and soldiers in their
possession soon.

"This is a clear sign that this peace process is working," Jaime Bernal, Colombia's chief prosecutor, told reporters.

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