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NEWS
SOUTH AMERICAN CRISIS
Documents show
FARC ties to Venezuela, Ecuador
Colombia released documents purporting to show that Venezuela and
Ecuador are deeply involved with the FARC.
Posted on Wed, Mar. 05, 2008
BY TYLER BRIDGES AND JENNY CAROLINA GONZALEZ
tbridges@MiamiHerald.com
BOGOTA -- A mysterious man named ''Belisario'' who offers FARC rebels
radioactive uranium that terrorists can use for a ''dirty bomb.'' A spat
between Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Cuba. An odd Chávez
proposal to move FARC hostages to Venezuela -- and hold them there.
Those are just some of the items in 15 documents released Tuesday by
Colombian police, who said they were found in the seized laptop of slain
FARC leader Raúl Reyes.
Overall, the documents describe the Venezuelan and Ecuadorean
governments as more deeply enmeshed with FARC than simply trying to win
the release of 45 high-profile hostages, as the two governments claim.
There was no independent verification of the documents. Colombia said it
would let experts from the Organization of American States examine the
computers.
If true, the documents also offer support for previous Colombian
allegations, including that Chávez offered the FARC -- the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia -- $300 million as well as guns, and indicate
that Chávez met secretly with rebel leaders.
The most stunning allegation involves the uranium, which can be used to
make dirty bombs in which conventional explosives disperse radioactive
materials.
''Another of the themes is the one on uranium,'' says a Feb. 16 note
from a man identified as Edgar Tovar to Raúl -- likely Reyes.
''There's a man who supplies me with material for the explosive we
prepare, and his name is Belisario and he lives in Bogotá,'' the note
reads. ``He sent me the samples and the specifications and they are
proposing to sell each kilo for two and a half million dollars, and that
they supply and we look for someone to sell to, and that the deal should
be with a government that can buy a huge amount. They have 50 kilos
ready and can sell much more.''
In a statement Tuesday, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said
the note proves the FARC was ``negotiating to get radioactive material,
the principal base for making dirty weapons of destruction and
terrorism.''
''This shows that these terrorist groups . . . constitute a grave threat
not just to our country but to the entire Andean region and Latin
America,'' he added.
Some were skeptical.
''In a lot of cases involving uranium deals, somebody's usually getting
snookered,'' said James Lewis, a former State Department expert on arms
smuggling now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington.
The $2.5 million per kilo price ''sounds about right,'' he said, but
''the quantity sounds really suspicious'' because accumulating 50 kilos
would be difficult under very watchful eye of U.S. and other
intelligence agencies.
In another intriguing document, an e-mail to the FARC's ruling
secretariat dated Jan. 14, Reyes reports Chávez has proposed moving to
special ''humanitarian camps'' in Venezuela 47 high-profile hostages
then held by the FARC and 500 FARC fighters jailed in Colombia that the
FARC wants freed, while awaiting a negotiated exchange.
Reyes offers no comment on the Chávez proposal, which would have meant
holding the Colombians against their will in Venezuelan territory.
The document adds that three U.S. defense contractors held by the FARC
since their plane crashed in southern Colombia ''would only be there''
if two FARC leaders in U.S. prisons were part of the deal.
The same e-mail expresses both satisfaction and frustration with the
FARC's January hand-over to Chávez of two hostages, both women
politicians.
The release ''was covered by the world. We did not feel disappointed,
despite our own instances of ingenuity and incapacity and those of
Chávez,'' Reyes wrote. ''Now our struggle is with those [hostages] that
we have remaining . . . we know we have a treasure.'' Several of the
documents make indirect reference to the $300 million allegedly paid or
promised by Chávez to the FARC.
One e-mail from Reyes says a person code-named ANGEL -- from the context
of that and other e-mails, it appears ANGEL is Chávez -- ``already has
ready the first 50 and has a time frame for topping us up to 200 during
the year.''
Two of the e-mails list the ways in which the FARC would receive the
money:
``He offered us the possibility of a business in which we receive a
quota of petroleum to be sold abroad, which would leave us a juicy
profit.
``Another offer: the sale of gasoline in Colombia or Venezuela . . . the
creation of a profitable enterprise for investments in Venezuela [or for
the] possibility of assigning state contracts.''
Another document indicates Chávez met with FARC leaders sometime after
losing a Dec. 2 referendum on constitutional revisions. ''He told us,''
the document said, ``that he won the referendum by 5,000 votes, but that
had he insisted on such a precarious triumph, a violent situation would
have exploded.''
Later in the document, Reyes writes that 'he confirmed to us that on
these contacts with us he has maintained the Cubans `compartmentalized.'
And those guys are complaining.'' An e-mail dated Oct. 8 says Havana is
``feeling marginalized.''
Other excerpts:
• In a July 13 e-mail, Reyes writes that ''on Tuesday of next week, I
have to hand over 700 kilos of crystal, but on Saturday or Sunday I have
to receive the money in Quito, one and a half million dollars.'' The
crystal is cocaine, police said.
• A Feb. 9 Reyes e-mail says Chávez ''gave thanks for the solidarity of
the 100 million pesos given by the FARC when he was in jail'' and says
the FARC is expecting ''some old caucheras,'' Colombian slang for guns.
• In a Feb. 28 e-mail ''Raúl'' relays a summary of his talks with an
envoy from Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa who says Quito is willing
to ''coordinate'' its social development plan along the Colombian border
with the FARC. Raúl adds that the Ecuadorean group handling the plan
would include a member of the ``clandestine party.''
• ''Raúl'' also writes about a visit from Ecuadorean Security Minister
Gustavo Larrea, who is interested in ''normalizing'' relations with the
FARC. Larrea has acknowledged meeting with the FARC but said he was
simply trying to foster a prisoner exchange.
• And in a letter dated Jan. 18, ''Raúl'' explains the advantages of the
FARC's unilateral releases of some of its hostages to Chávez:
``With this proposal, Chávez gains more power, and we squelch the . . .
pressure on us to accept [humanitarian] visits to the sick prisoners.''
Miami Herald correspondent Pablo Bachelet contributed from Washington.
Special correspondent Gonzalez contributed from Bogotá.
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