Chavez reviews Colombia ties after Interpol report
Source: Reuters
(Repeating without changes to text or headline following correction to earlier version)(Recasts with Chavez comments on commerce, paragraphs 2-6; Uribe comments, paragraphs 9-10) By Patrick Markey BOGOTA, May 15 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday warned he was reviewing ties and commerce with Colombia after an Interpol report authenticated rebel documents that Bogota says prove the leftist has supported guerrillas. Accusations based on the files are reheating tensions after a March diplomatic crisis in the Andean region, where Colombia has become Washington's staunchest ally and Venezuela and Ecuador are among the fiercest critics of U.S. policies. Colombia, which along with the United States labels the FARC terrorists, seized the laptops in a March raid on a rebel camp inside Ecuador that killed a guerrilla leader and briefly raised fears of border clashes among the three neighbors. International police agency Interpol said earlier on Thursday the FARC documents were real and showed no tampering, but also said it could not verify the contents. Chavez dismisses Bogota's charges as U.S.-backed propaganda. "They keep on assaulting us and this shameful show today was a new act of aggression," Chavez told a news conference in Caracas after the Interpol announcement in Colombia. The self-styled socialist said Venezuela did not need Colombian imports though the Andean neighbor is one its largest trading partners and accounts for much of its food imports. The international police agency's conclusion reinforced Colombian and U.S. charges the files show Venezuela has backed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But Interpol's acknowledgment that it did not verify the files' contents leaves open to debate whether they tie Chavez to Latin America's oldest insurgency. Responding from Lima, where Latin American leaders meet this week for a Latin America EU summit, Uribe said the Interpol report proved Colombia had acted correctly. "Its conclusion is clear about how honestly the Colombian authorities have acted" he said. VIDEOS, PHOTOGRAPHS, SPREADSHEETS Dozens of Interpol investigators scoured a selection of what were the equivalent of 40 million Microsoft Word pages, including videos, photographs, data spreadsheets and nearly 1,000 encrypted files. Handing Interpol the evidence was meant to add credibility to the charges, said Phillip McLean, a former U.S. diplomat now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "But the computers give only one side of a conversation, i.e.: the FARC's. Intelligence analysts will find it fascinating, but it would be hard to call what comes out 'proof,'" McLean said. Colombian police say the archives show Chavez offered financial aid to the rebels and that Ecuador's leader Rafael Correa also allowed them to hide across his frontier. U.S. officials say documents reveal the rebels' deep ties. "There are serious allegations about Venezuela supplying arms and support to a terrorist organization," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. U.S. officials often portray Chavez as a threat to regional stability as he promotes his socialist revolution. The former soldier says the White House plots with Colombia to oust him. Chavez and Correa say contacts with rebels were made only as part of mediation efforts to free rebel hostages. The documents have prompted calls in the U.S. Congress for sanctions against Venezuela, a key U.S. oil supplier. Republican Rep. Connie Mack of Florida said the Interpol report showed the need for a tougher line with Chavez. But experts said with oil prices hovering around record highs in a presidential election year, Washington was not expected to take a tougher line or apply sanctions without more concrete evidence against Chavez. (Additional reporting by Frank Daniel in Caracas; Editing by Saul Hudson and Eric Walsh)
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