BUCARAMANGA, Colombia -- The release by the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) of 42 members of the Colombian security forces shows that peace is "possible," the government's high commissioner for peace, Camilo Gomez, said Saturday.

"I want to underline that what happened today is a positive fact which, without any doubt, gives confidence back to the Colombian nation that peace really is possible," said Gomez, an advisor to Colombian President Andres Pastrana.

Some of those released were taken hostage more than two years ago.

Gomez said the government is moving ahead with plans to "demilitarize" an area in northern Colombia at the request of the ELN, which wants troops out of the zone as a prerequisite to peace talks.

The 30 soldiers, 10 policemen and two secret service agents were freed by the leftist ELN guerrillas in time for Christmas at the isolated hamlet of Miraflores, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Bogota.

The released hostages were then brought by helicopter to a police vacation center in this town 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of Bogota.

They arrived here wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with peace slogans, to an emotional welcome from waiting relatives and also from police colleagues, some dressed as father Christmas.

The releases had been announced earlier Saturday by two ELN commanders, in interviews with Radio Caracol recorded at undisclosed locations.

The total number released will rise to 45 if the ELN free -- as they have said they intend to -- a further three men held at another location.

The second most senior ELN commander, Antonio Garcia, told the radio station that the organization had decided unilaterally to release the men, as a humanitarian gesture to bolster the peace process.

Representatives of the government, of the Catholic Church and the International Committee of the Red Cross watched the release at Miraflores, an official source told AFP.

Diplomats representing Cuba, Spain, France and Switzerland -- the countries participating in a commission to encourage a political settlement between the government and the ELN -- were also present, the source said.

The hostage release apparently resulted from talks which have taken place in Havana over the last two weeks between the ELN and Colombian government representatives.

The existence of these latest talks was revealed in a brief government communique on December 14.

Garcia, in his radio interview, said: "The dialogue in Havana has been positive and frank, and we believe things are moving in the right direction."