A proposal by leftist insurgents to trade nearly 300 security force members
                  for 452 rebels held by the government figured prominently in talks Monday
                  in the southern jungles between presidential peace envoy Victor G. Ricardo
                  and the commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

                  After the four-hour meeting, Ricardo announced that Pastrana and the
                  FARC commander, Manuel Marulanda, would meet Jan. 7 in San Vicente
                  de Caguan, a southern town in rebel-dominated territory.

                  Without offering details, the presidential envoy said the two sides had
                  overcome a persisting dispute over the presence of 120 unarmed soldiers at
                  an army base in the town.

                  The FARC had refused to begin peace talks unless the men were
                  withdrawn, saying Pastrana had reneged on a pledge to withdraw all
                  government forces from San Vicente and four neighboring towns.

                  Peace expectations, which soared after Pastrana's meeting with Marulanda
                  in August, had dimmed recently and new fighting brought little
                  encouragement.

                  At least 14 civilians, including five children, were killed in weekend combat
                  in the northeastern state of Arauca, many apparently victims of rockets and
                  strafing by military aircraft.

                  Once talks begin, analysts expect the proposed prisoner swap to be among
                  the thorniest issues.

                  "This could turn into a practically insolvable obstacle," wrote National
                  University political analyst Eduardo Pizarro in Cambio magazine.

                  The FARC says the offer is a humanitarian gesture and an icebreaker. But
                  critics are wary of guerrilla intentions.

                  The proposal is a leadership test for Pastrana, who presides over a nation
                  hungry to end decades of civil conflict.

                  Refuse, and Pastrana risks souring the FARC to what appear to be the most
                  promising peace talks in decades -- not to mention dashing the hopes of
                  family and friends of the mostly poor conscripts carted off by the rebels
                  since 1996.

                  Accept, and Pastrana grants the FARC unprecedented political status while
                  sending hundreds of hardened guerrillas, some of them accused war
                  criminals, back to their units.

                  All for a chance at building goodwill with a 15,000-member rebel force that
                  many feel has yet to prove its peaceful intentions.

                  "It's a political and military decision of immense transcendence," said former
                  national security adviser Alfredo Rangel, who claims the rebels are only
                  using the negotiations to further their battlefield advantage over Colombia's
                  floundering military.

                  The FARC has shrewdly reaped political gain from a three-year string of
                  military victories, said Rangel, giving Pastrana little choice but to accept the
                  proposed prisoner swap even though that may exacerbate the violence.

                  With Pastrana appearing to give the prisoner exchange serious
                  consideration, humanitarian workers are warning him to think twice.

                  Some of the jailed rebels took part in political assassinations or executions of
                  captured troops, and at least 76 are charged with kidnapping, the public
                  prosecutor's office says.

                  "This is a trial-run," said Carlos Rodriguez of the Colombian Commission of
                  Jurists, who warns that a blanket prisoner release would be the first step
                  toward a peace settlement granting broad amnesty for human rights
                  violators.

                  Others worry the prisoner exchange would feed Colombia's kidnap rate,
                  already the highest in the world.

                  "This wouldn't be the end of it. It would be an incentive for those kinds of
                  actions to be carried out in the future," said Francisco Santos, news editor of
                  the newspaper El Tiempo and himself a former kidnap victim.

                  Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.