Two Venezuelan helicopters are en route to Colombia on a mission to pick up four lawmakers being held hostage by Colombia's main rebel group.
Officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross say the helicopters took off Wednesday from a base near Venezuela's border with Colombia.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, recently sent coordinates of the location where the hostages would be freed. All four lawmakers are Colombian.
Last month, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mediated the release of two female politicians who had been held by the FARC for years.
The rebel group is holding about 750 hostages, including former presidential candidate and French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped in February of 2002.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.