A prisoner swap between the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas -- including three U.S. defense contractors -- could pave the way for talks to end the insurgency, a top FARC leader has told The Miami Herald.

''With a humanitarian exchange, trust could be generated,'' Rodrigo Granda, known as the FARC's ''foreign minister,'' said in an interview at the Bogotá headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. ``All conflicts have ended like this: The two sides sit and they talk, they feel each other out, which is what we've wanted since the beginning.''

President Alvaro Uribe's government has expressed interest in a swap -- and freed Granda from jail earlier this month in hopes of facilitating the process -- but rejected FARC demands to demilitarize two municipalities in southern Colombia about the size of New York City so that further talks can be safely held.

The FARC, the hemisphere's oldest and largest leftist guerrilla, holds scores of Colombians kidnapped or captured, including soldiers, policemen, politicians and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. U.S. defense contractors Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell were taken hostage in 2003 after their airplane crashed in southern Colombia.

While there are legal precedents in Colombia for a prisoner swap, there are also complications that go beyond its borders.

The FARC -- the spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- wants the deal to include two mid-level guerrilla commanders now in U.S. jails. Nayibe Rojas was convicted of trafficking five tons of cocaine to the United States; Ricardo Palmera, is currently being re-tried in Washington for the kidnapping of the U.S. contractors. His first trial ended in a hung jury.

''They are on the list,'' Granda said in the hourlong interview, before adding, ``Anything that contributes to a humanitarian accord is welcome -- a repatriation or a good verdict.''

Granda's statements came after a confusing and, for some, unsettling couple of weeks in which the Uribe government unilaterally released him from jail and gathered 198 other guerrillas in a prison north of Bogotá, while it sorted through their records to determine which could be freed.

So far, 110 rebels have met the requirements, signed a statement promising not to return to the FARC or crime, and are receiving training in a government holding center to help them reenter society. An unknown number of others may be sent back to jail because they face serious charges that preclude their release.

Uribe's moves were roundly criticized by columnists, political analysts and opposition politicians, especially after a top rebel commander Raul Reyes, who is still at large, declared erlier this week that the unilateral actions did not meet the FARC's conditions.

Uribe appears unwilling to repeat the strategy of his predecessor, Andres Pastrana, who demilitarized an area in southern Colombia the size of Switzerland in order to hold peace talks with the FARC. The rebels used the area to retrain its soldiers, hold kidnap victims and launch military assaults on nearby towns, then abruptly broke off talks in 2002.

Granda said he did not sign an agreement renouncing his affiliation with the FARC, and therefore does not know whether he would be set free, be returned to jail or possibly be extradited to Paraguay, where he is wanted in connection with the kidnapping and murder of Cecilia Cubas, former Paraguayan President Raúl Cubas's daughter.

Uribe's offer of a swap caught many by surprise. Since winning the presidency in 2002, he has launched an unprecedented military offensive against the FARC, pushing the rebels into remote zones and deploying security forces in long-abandoned towns and villages.

While relatives of the FARC hostages favor swaps, critics have said that Uribe's move is little more than a smoke screen to cover the growing scandal connecting his congressional allies to illegal rightwing paramilitaries. Prior to freeing the rebels from jail, Uribe said the government should study the possibility of freeing those congressmen jailed because of their alleged ties to the militias. However, he has not mentioned it again.

The U.S. government has not taken sides on the possible swap. But other countries like France and Cuba are playing active roles, including offering Granda some form of asylum. Granda said he has refused their offers and is simply awaiting orders from the FARC leadership.

''I'm not the peace emissary,'' he insisted during the interview Wednesday. ``I am just a FARC soldier.''

The bespectacled, middle-aged Granda, who wears civilian clothes and dresses in button-downs and cardigan sweaters, seems more like a salesman than a guerrilla.

He was a member of Colombia's Communist Party until joining the FARC and becoming part of its International Committee. He has represented the rebels in international conferences and sought to create support abroad for the 43-year old insurgency.

Colombian secret agents captured Granda in Venezuela in 2004 and secretly ferried him back to Colombia, setting off a furious row between the neighbors.