Colombia's Farc rebels have freed a politician held hostage for more than seven years in the second release this week by Latin America's longest-running insurgency, the Red Cross said yesterday.

A Brazilian army helicopter ferried an International Committee of the Red Cross team into Colombia's jungle earlier yesterday to bring back Alan Jara, a former provincial governor kidnapped by Farc guerillas in 2001.

The Farc freed three captive police officers and a soldier on Sunday and another handover is planned for later this week, fuelling speculation that the leftist rebels are trying to regain political capital after a year of military setbacks.

Mr Jara was handed to a delegation that included left-wing Senator Piedad Cordoba, who had helped broker the handover in the country's remote Guaviare province, a Red Cross spokesman told reporters.

The ex-governor was one of two remaining politicians in Farc captivity and part of a group of around 20 high-profile hostages the rebels say they want to swap for jailed fighters.

Analysts say the Farc appears to be trying to gain political leverage with the unconditional hostage releases, but talks with the government to end Colombia's four-decade-old conflict are far off as the sides remain deadlocked over demands.

Mr Jara's handover was delayed by a day after President Alvaro Uribe's government and Cordoba's civilian commission sparred over accusations military aircraft had pursued the mission. The government denied charges it harassed the team.

Begun in the 1960s as a Marxist peasant army, the Farc has been sapped by desertions and the loss of top commanders as Mr Uribe's US-backed military retakes parts of the Andean country once plagued by bombings and massacres.

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