BY FRANCES ROBLES

                      BOGOTA - Colombian congresswoman Consuelo González de Perdomo was on her usual Monday night
                      run visiting constituents in a remote region of southwest Colombia when she was suddenly stopped by
                      seven armed rebels as she crossed the Puente Rio bridge in her Mitsubishi Montero.

                      ''Get out,'' they told her. ``People are waiting for you.''

                      That was nearly six months ago. She hasn't been seen since. On Feb. 20, that same Puente Rio bridge
                      was bombed by rebels, who hijacked a domestic airliner and spirited away passenger Sen. Jorge
                      Gechen, head of the Colombian Senate's peace committee. Days later, presidential candidate Ingrid
                      Betancourt was snatched, too.

                      The three are among six politicians being held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, leftist
                      guerrillas who for nearly 40 years have killed, kidnapped and waged war in an effort to force the
                      government to heed their demands for ''social justice.'' They are just a few of the estimated 4,000
                      people now kidnapped in Colombia, about 250 held by the FARC.

                      Politicos represent a new and more challenging twist on an old tactic. Today, guerrillas no longer want
                      only businessmen flush with cash, but also high-profile political figures they can swap for jailed FARC
                      prisoners. While the government breaks off peace talks, drops bombs and vows not to cede to guerrilla
                      demands, FARC commanders pledge to capture more lawmakers.

                      The latest spree of political kidnappings creates yet another obstacle to harmony in a country at war for
                      nearly 40 years.

                      ''I have seen no political will on either side to end this situation,'' said Deyanira Ortíz, whose
                      congressman husband, Orlando Beltrán, was abducted in August. ``How many years will he be there?''

                      Kidnapping is not a new phenomenon in Colombia. It's been done for at least 100 years, each decade
                      in greater numbers. Practiced by everyone from drug dealers and common criminals to left-wing and
                      right-wing bandits, it has become a favored method to finance war since 1996.

                      Despite the FARC's notoriety, it's a smaller leftist guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN),
                      that does more kidnapping. Both groups target just under 1,000 people a year, successful
                      businessmen, as well as housewives, children and ranchers.

                      FRIGHTENED VICTIMS

                      In the past five years, nearly 16,000 people were reported kidnapped in Colombia. The actual figure
                      may be triple that, because many victims are too frightened to file police reports. In 1996, 1,039 people
                      were reported abducted. Four years later, 3,706.

                      The average stay is six months, the typical payoff: $65,000. Most victims buy their release. Some
                      languish for years. Some die, a few escape, about a quarter are rescued.

                      Of the 183 victims so far this year -- 27 of them children -- 28 were rescued, one killed and 49 paid a
                      ransom. The rest are still captive.

                      CONGRESS TARGETED

                      Of the 100 or so captured politicians each year, most have been low-level council members or mayors.
                      But now the FARC is aiming higher: Congress.

                      In the past six months, the FARC has nabbed four legislators, a former governor and a former senator
                      running for president. Congressman Oscar Tulio Lizcano has been held the longest; he was taken July
                      2000. Beltrán, a member of the House of Representatives, was nabbed last summer in front of his Neiva
                      ranch.

                      Former Meta governor Alan Jara was kidnapped seven months ago while riding in a United Nations
                      motorcade. But it was last month's brazen seizure of Sen. Gechen that turned the tide on Colombia's
                      war.

                      Gechen was aboard an Aires Airliner from Neiva to Bogotá on Feb. 20 when four armed rebels, including
                      two women, forced the pilot to land in Hobo -- just outside the demilitarized zone occupied by the FARC.
                      They shuffled Gechen off the plane, but not before destroying the Puente Rio bridge, killing a pregnant
                      woman in the process.

                      It was the last straw for President Andrés Pastrana, himself held for several weeks in 1988 by drug
                      lords. He declared an end to the peace talks and the demilitarized zone. That midnight, he ordered air
                      strikes on the very territory where the FARC is believed to have at least 100 hostages, including the
                      politicians.

                      ''I cried,'' said González de Perdomo's daughter, Patricia Perdomo. ``I cried a lot. Imagine: they are
                      bombing in there, and we don't know where they are.''

                      Presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt headed to the region two days after the air strikes, despite
                      government warnings. Kidnapped at a rebel roadblock on the drive from Florencia to San Vicente del
                      Caguán, FARC commanders have publicly declared what the families of the other political kidnap victims
                      already know: They will only release her in exchange for FARC prisoners.

                      The government steadfastly refuses.

                      ''When the victim is a politician, the family is not extorted -- the federal government is,'' said Juan
                      Francisco Mesa, Colombia's director of the defense ministry's National Personal Freedom Defense Fund.
                      ``The government cannot engage in that. Today it's five congressmen and they get a new law passed.
                      And tomorrow they take all of Congress.''

                      Mesa acknowledged that past presidents -- including Pastrana -- have traded hostages for prisoners.
                      But he stressed that it was done as a gesture toward peace and not under threat.

                      ''If we do prisoner exchanges, then we will never have anyone in jail. Why capture people?'' Mesa said.
                      'When we did it before, it was in the environment of negotiation. It wasn't, `Release people or we'll kill
                      them!' It was, 'OK, let's have peace, and here is a step toward that.' ''

                      Relatives of the politicians strongly believe prisoner trades are the only way to secure the lawmakers'
                      release. The failure of the peace process, they say, will only delay their freedom. Other families
                      interviewed -- those held for money, not politics -- are largely against prisoner swaps.

                      ''They'd release inmates so they can go kidnap more people and put more families where we are?''
                      asked Fanny Riveros, whose husband Nestor has been missing three years, despite a paid ransom.

                      Although relieved that the issue is an increasing priority for the government, families like hers are irked
                      at the sudden attention paid to cases like Betancourt's. They point to the thousands of civilians like
                      Richard Rubaño, a furniture store owner whose family is being extorted for $10 million.

                      ''My mother, my father and 3,000 others: What about them?'' said Hector Angulo, whose parents,
                      Gerardo and Carmen, a retired couple in their 70s, have been missing almost two years.

                      FEEL ABANDONED

                      Mesa understands that the families feel abandoned. He insists the government has made strides since
                      creating squads to target kidnapping rings. Rescues have increased slightly, from 18 percent in 2000 to
                      25 percent last year. From 2000 to 2001, kidnappings dropped by 700 cases, the first time in six years
                      that it did not increase. The advances, however, are mostly among common criminals whose gangs are
                      easier to infiltrate, Mesa concedes.

                      The kidnapping industry garners about $200 million a year, he said. His funding: $3.5 million. More
                      resources are needed to pay informants and purchase electronic surveillance equipment, he said.

                      ''This isn't easy -- it's difficult. But it's not impossible.'' said Marleny Orjuela, who advocates on behalf of
                      47 held soldiers and police officers. ``We will bring them home, alive and free.''