U.S. Studies Rebels' Data For Chavez Link

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
March 14, 2008
Pg. 6
By Alexei Barrionuevo
BRASÍLIA — A senior American official said Thursday that American investigative teams were working in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, and Washington to pull information from recently seized computers to try to better understand the operations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
One of the main issues the investigators are trying to resolve is the nature of the relationship between the FARC and Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter.
The laptops and hard drives were seized during a raid on the Marxist guerrillas March 1 that killed a senior FARC commander and started a brief diplomatic crisis in the region.
Colombian officials have said that information seized in the raid shows that the Venezuelan government may have channeled about $300 million to the FARC.
Last week, Mr. Chávez denied that he was providing financial support to the FARC, saying, “I would never do it,” the newspaper El Universal reported.
President Bush responded Wednesday to reports of the possible link between the guerrillas and Mr. Chávez by accusing the Venezuelan of sponsoring “terrorists.” Álvaro Uribe, Colombia’s president and a staunch American ally, has said he will use the information to file charges against Mr. Chávez in the International Criminal Court, but it is unclear whether Colombia’s government will follow through with that threat.
But United States officials say it is too early to tell whether the computers contain information that would persuade the United States to add Venezuela to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Five countries — Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria — are currently on the list.
Still, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to reporters as she began her two-day visit to Brazil and Chile, did not discount the possibility that Venezuela could be added to the list.
“Obviously, we will follow the situation closely and we will see what emerges,” she said. “We do have to be concerned about terrorism, we have to be concerned about the safety and well-being of countries in the region, that they should not be subject to terrorist activities or terrorists’ acts that are either within their borders or beyond their borders.”
The Colombian government seized several computers after the March 1 raid, which was conducted in Ecuador. The attack killed Raúl Reyes, a senior FARC leader. Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s president, expressed outrage at Colombia’s raid into Ecuador’s territory, while a furious Mr. Chávez ordered 10 tank battalions to the Venezuelan-Colombian border in case, he said, Colombia decided to invade.
Diplomats in the region scrambled to prevent a further escalation of tensions, with some cutting off ties to Colombia. Most condemned the Colombian raid as a violation of Ecuador’s sovereignty. Brazil, using its influence as the region’s largest country, urged Mr. Uribe to apologize to Mr. Correa. The crisis was then referred to the Organization of American States in Washington and finally defused last Friday when the leaders of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela shook hands at a summit meeting in the Dominican Republic.
While the diplomatic dispute seems to be over, the investigation into the captured computers is moving ahead. The senior American official said that the Colombian government had sought the help of American experts to decipher the information contained on the computers.
 
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