``The rebels received us and listened to us and were the first to open the doors to us while the government has so far done nothing,'' complained Olga Ruiz, 29.

Colombia Rebels Push Prisoner Swap

By Cesar Garcia

SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia.- Summoned by the leftist rebels who hold their sons, husbands and brothers, relatives of 382 Colombian police and soldiers captured over the past two years converged on this southern guerrilla stronghold.

Most got small parcels of hope: letters and pictures attesting to the mens' health and well-being. Some got nothing but frustration.

But everyone got the same message, pronounced Wednesday from a flatbed truck by a green-fatigued rebel political officer: They won't see their loved ones until the government agrees to free some 450 jailed guerrillas.

``It's very clear that the state and the military high command are radically opposed to exchanging prisoners of war,'' Comandante Ivan Rios told the 600-odd relatives the rebels had trucked to a pasture just outside this steamy ranching town.

President Andres Pastrana's government has refused a prisoner exchange, saying must first be substantial progress in negotiations to end nearly 40 years of armed conflict. The government also insists the rebels must free dozens of civilians kidnapped for ransom as part of any swap.

``The topic, I must repeat again, is not on the agenda,'' Interior Minister Nestor Humberto Martinez told reporters Wednesday in Bogota, the capital.

When guerrilla leaders told the crowd that Pastrana's government wasn't concerned about winning the release of their loved ones because most were from the lower class, many relatives applauded.

And when they received letters and photos of their boys -- most of the captives are under 25 -- mothers dropped to their knees and thanked the Lord.

``We demand that President Pastrana accept the prisoner exchange,'' said Fanny Giraldo, whose son Alex Arroyabe was captured Dec. 21, 1997, in an attack on a radar station in Patascoy.

Colombians like these, many of whom feel abandoned by the government, have been key propaganda targets for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's oldest and largest rebel band.

The guerrillas helped pay for their bus journeys from all corners of Colombia. Each family received $53 for travel expenses, in addition to food and basic lodging during their stay from Tuesday through Thursday.

``The rebels received us and listened to us and were the first to open the doors to us while the government has so far done nothing,'' complained Olga Ruiz, 29.

Ruiz got a letter from her brother Luis Eduardo, a soldier who surrendered to the FARC a year ago when it overran an anti-narcotics base in the southeastern town of Miraflores.

``I don't feel humiliated being with the rebels,'' she said. ``They also have their goals and we're going to support them because they, too, belong to the people.''

Others who left empty-handed said they felt manipulated.

``It's really painful to come and be humiliated in this way,'' said Magdalena Rivas, who received nothing to show that her son, a police officer captured six months ago, was still alive.

San Vicente is the main town in a sparsely populated Switzerland-size region that Pastrana cleared of government forces in November as a condition for launching peace negotiations. The talks have yet to begin in any formal sense.

The 15,000-member FARC has refused to let an international verification commission attend the talks as an arbitrator and monitor potential abuses by both sides.

Meanwhile, the FARC has grown even more powerful since Pastrana launched his peace initiative a year ago.

The rebels, whose attacks on small towns and police posts have become more frequent and bloody, earn millions of dollars by taxing the cocaine produced in and transported through the vast rural areas they control.