[QODLink]
Americas
US 'authenticates' Chavez-Farc ties
Officials say computer files show Venezuelan president's links to Colombian rebels.
Last Modified: 10 May 2008 03:01 GMT
Chavez accuses the Colombian government of fabricating the computer files [AFP]

US intelligence officials have said computer files seized from a Colombian rebel leader's laptop computer are authentic and show strong ties between Farc and Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president.
 
The files describe meetings between rebel leaders and Venezuelan officials, including Chavez, a report in The Wall Street Journal said on Friday.
One intelligence official said the analysis "reinforces the US government's strong position that Chavez is attempting in various ways to project his influence throughout the region".
 
"That influence in some ways could be construed as destabilising," he said.
The Reuters news agency reported another US official as saying the files were a public relations victory for Colombia, which is battling Farc fighters.
 
"The involvement does seem to extend fairly high up in the Venezuelan government. This isn't a bunch of local yokels on the border doing their own thing," the official said.
 
Offer of arms
 
Chavez, whose sympathies for Farc are well known, contends that the files have been faked by the Colombian government.
 
Colombia has said the files, which were seized in an attack on Farc fighters in March, show Chavez offered financial support to the group.
 
The Wall Street Journal report said the files also indicated Venezuela offered to arm Farc fighters, possibly with rocket-propelled grenades and ground-to-air missiles, and said Venezuela offered Farc the use of a port to receive arms shipments.
 
Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's ambassador to the US, told the newspaper on Wednesday, that the computer files were "false and an attempt to discredit the Venezuelan government".
 
The March attack by Colombia on a Farc base in Ecuador killed a senior Farc leader, but also increased tensions in the region and prompted Chavez to mobilise Venezuela's military along the country's border with Colombia.
Source:
Agencies
Topics in this article
People
Country
Organisation
Featured on Al Jazeera
An unflinching portrait of physical labour in the 21st century.
The stark choice between a fascist or an imperialist course in Syria should be discarded for a third and better course.
Israel's propaganda machine carefully chooses its words to assert illegal ownership over Jerusalem and Palestine.
As Western fears grow over Iran's continuing nuclear programme, we ask how a military strike could impact the region.
<  > 
join our mailing list

Enter Zip Code
Go