By JUAN PABLO TORO
 Associated Press Writer

 SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's government on Tuesday ruled
 out swapping captured rebels for a kidnapped presidential candidate, and the rebels
 responded to an army offensive by killing three soldiers and destroying power lines,
 roads and bridges.

 Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
 FARC, at a roadblock in a war zone Saturday. The rebels had reportedly offered to free
 her and other kidnapped politicians in exchange for the release of imprisoned guerrillas.
 The FARC is holding five members of congress, in addition to Betancourt.

 ``The government does not see the possibility of carrying on swap negotiations,''
 Interior Minister Armando Estrada said Tuesday. ``Prisoner exchanges are done
 between equals, between combatants. She was not a combatant, nor are the
 lawmakers.''

Meanwhile, military operations to search for Betancourt, who is a candidate for the small Oxygen-Green
party, have been suspended on the family's request for fear they could put her life in danger, said
Betancourt campaign spokeswoman Diana Rodriguez.

On Monday, an army soldier was killed after troops fired at rebels tampering with power lines, and the
rebels responded. Two other soldiers died trying to defuse a bomb on a bus blocking a highway.

In Bogota, 190 miles north of the war zone, guerrillas detonated a bomb at a reservoir serving the capital
city. The attack didn't affect water supplies, Mayor Antanas Mockus said.

"This is the kind of thing that even countries fighting other countries don't do,'' the disgusted mayor said.

In 1998, the government gave the FARC a Switzerland-sized parcel of land to lure the nation's largest
rebel group into peace talks. But when the FARC hijacked a civilian airliner last week and kidnapped
a senator, President Andres Pastrana canceled talks, ordered the rebels out of the zone and sent
his troops in.

 Since then, rebels have toppled utility pylons both inside and outside the zone in
 southern Colombia, blacking out or forcing electricity rationing in at least 56 towns, the
 energy ministry said.

 In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Tuesday that ``the goodwill
 of the Pastrana government and the Colombian people has not been reciprocated by
 the FARC.'' Rebel ``terrorist actions are a real affront to people who seek peace in
 Colombia,'' he said.

 U.S. intelligence sharing is being increased and deliveries of spare parts for U.S.
 helicopters are being accelerated. Officials also were addressing an existing ban on U.S.
 military assistance for anything other than counter-narcotics activities.

San Vicente del Caguan — the former rebel capital that was the first town occupied by the
army on Saturday — has been among those hit the hardest. A downed bridge and rebel
roadblocks have virtually isolated the sweltering town. Food stocks are dwindling
and drinking water is scarce.

Mayor Nestor Ramirez declared a local state of emergency and asked troops to supply
his town of 22,000 by using military helicopters.

Fearing rebel attacks, the government temporarily suspended flights by an air
force-owned airline to the nearest city, Florencia. Rebel roadblocks also make the road
to Florencia dangerous.

 ``The situation generated by the violence of the past few days took us by surprise,'' said Ramirez.

 Troops occupied the former rebel town of Vista Hermosa on Sunday, only to find that guerrillas
 downed a nearby utility tower and blacked out the town. Parts of eastern Ecuador also experienced blackouts.

 Rebels planted land mines around the wreckage, hampering repairs.

 The FARC has blown up 11 bridges since Thursday, disrupting transportation in southern Colombia.

 Colombian news media reported Monday that the FARC executed five people in La Macarena, which the
 army had yet to reach. The reasons for the killings were not known.

 Pastrana was reviewing the volatile situation with his Cabinet and ``looking for other ways to stop the terrorism and abductions,''
 Justice Minister Romulo Gonzalez said.

 The FARC, a smaller rebel group called the ELN and right-wing paramilitary forces known as the AUC are on the State
 Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

 Betancourt's kidnapping aroused international concern for the security of candidates in the March legislative elections and May 26
 presidential vote.