Colombian President Alvaro Uribe abruptly ended negotiations Friday with Marxist rebels on a hostage swap and ordered the army to step up operations aimed at rescuing abductees.
"The only path that is left is a military rescue of those who have been kidnapped. We cannot go on with the farce of a humanitarian swap as suggested by the FARC," Uribe said in an address to the nation, referring to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Uribe ordered the armed forces to target the FARC leadership.
The swap deal the two sides had discussed would have exchanged 58 high-profile hostages, including former presidential candidate and senator Ingrid Betancourt, a French national, and three US nationals, for some 500 jailed rebels.
The FARC is Colombia's largest and oldest rebel group, with some 17,000 members.