Colombian rebels holding 62 hostages, including three Americans and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, called on Monday for "face-to-face" talks with the government on a prisoner exchange.

The move came less than a month into the second term of President Alvaro Uribe, a Washington ally popular for his crackdown on drug-running Marxist guerrillas who kidnapped French/Colombian citizen Betancourt during her 2002 campaign and three American defense contractors during a 2003 mission to locate crops used to make cocaine.

"What's needed is a face-to-face agreement," said a statement titled "An Exchange Now!" posted on the Web site of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Interior Minister Carlos Holguin said the statement lacked clarity.

The Americans -- Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell -- along with Betancourt are among the FARC hostages Uribe wants to swap for guerrillas held in government jails. The government and the 17,000-strong rebel army are deadlocked over terms for starting negotiations.

Uribe has been accused by human rights groups of giving soft treatment to far-right militias, most of whom have agreed to lay down their arms in exchange for reduced prison sentences for crimes ranging from cocaine smuggling to massacre.

The government has also been jolted by corruption scandals involving state security forces. In May, for example, 10 anti-narcotics police were gunned down by Colombian soldiers in the pay of drug dealers near the western town of Jamundi, prosecutors say.

"The government's position vis-a-vis the FARC has been weakened by criticism of Uribe's handling of the paramilitary demobilization and scandals such as Jamundi," said Francisco Leal, political analyst at Bogota's University of the Andes.

"The FARC is timing this request for a direct meeting without intermediaries to take advantage of that relative weakness," he added.

The United States has given billions of dollars in aid to Colombia aimed in part at combating the 42-year-old FARC, which despite scant popular support says it is fighting to close the wide gap that divides rich and poor in this Andean country. Thousands are killed in Colombia's guerrilla war every year.