Colombian engineer and geologist Jorge Andrés Sierra, who was held as a hostage by the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) for 20 months, last weekend said the guerrilla troops took him to Venezuela because they allegedly had a pact with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and because they deemed Venezuela "a free territory."

Sierra, who went into exile following his liberation by ELN, told radio show "Colombia Universal" that he was taken to the Venezuelan jungle because the rebels said Venezuela was "a friendly territory," Efe reported.

He added that the guerrilla troops, who held other six Colombian citizens as hostages in Venezuelan territory, claimed they had "a pact of non-aggression" with Chávez. Under the deal, the rebels undertake "not to kidnap Venezuelans, while Chávez allows them to be in Venezuela."

Both ELN and the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) endorse Chávez's political ideas, and have asked the Venezuelan ruler for support to launch a peace process and release hostages.