(Inside Costa Rica) - "Colombia's largest anti-government group agreed to meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in Venezuela next month for talks on a possible prisoner swap with the Colombian government, a negotiator told local media.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government have agreed that Chávez, a mediator in the prisoner issue, is scheduled to meet a FARC leader on October, said Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba, who met Chávez last week.

'In principal, the negotiations will take place in Venezuela,' she said, adding 'the most important thing is that both sides have been building trust.'

She expressed her confidence in the upcoming talks as they represent a major FARC concession.

Cordoba, an opposition senator named by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe as a mediator, said she had delivered a video to Chávez in which the FARC 'say exactly what is needed to move forward, (and) this is a relaxation of their position.'

'There is absolutely no talk of demilitarizing territory in the video, and there are no attacks on the government,' said Cordoba.

The talks had been hampered by both sides' reluctance to make concessions. The FARC demanded demilitarization of the southeastern Colombian towns of Pradera and Florida, a demand refused by Uribe, while Uribe wanted to ensure that any rebels released would not fight against the government again.

Colombia has been ravaged by decades of civil war, which kills more than 3,000 people every year".