CRI听力:Colombia Suspends Peace Talks with FARC after General Kidnapped

The Colombian government has suspended peace talks with the country's largest rebel group following the kidnapping of a Columbian general.

Negotiators had been set to travel to Cuba for the latest round of negotiations with the FARC rebels this week.

The Columbian general and two others were taken Sunday afternoon in western Colombia.

Columbian President Juan Manuel Santos says peace talks can't go forward until the hostages are freed.

"We demand that they release these three people as soon as possible. Tomorrow peace negotiators were scheduled to travel to Havana for a new round of talks. I'm going to tell the negotiators not to travel, and to suspend the negotiations until these people are freed. So tomorrow, the negotiators will not travel to Havana."

The two-year-old peace talks have been slow to progress in recent weeks, as the rebels have refused to wind down attacks in areas where they remain dominant.

The FARC rebel group in Columbia has been waging a guerrilla-style insurgency for the past 50-years.

FARC remains a dominant force in the country's less-populated rural areas, particularly in the southern and eastern areas of the country.