On March 1, Colombian armed forces carried out an attack on a FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) camp just over the Colombian border, inside Ecuador.
Because the raid took place a mile inside Ecuador, it sparked an immediate furor in the region, with strong protests being voiced not only by Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, but especially from Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, who called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a “murderer” and a "lapdog of the U.S. Empire." Chávez immediately mobilized thousands of troops, with tanks, to the Colombia-Venezuela border.
Colombian forces killed 17 FARC guerrillas in the fight, including Raúl Reyes, a senior FARC commander. The Colombians seized three laptops belonging to Reyes, finding evidence immediately that Venezuela had given FARC $300 million in funding. All three countries broke off diplomatic relations, recalling ambassadors and closing missions. There followed an extended period of saber rattling from all involved, but further warfare was averted, and gradually, the furor died down, though Colombia has periodically released documents it says were found on the captured laptops.
On Friday, May 9, Colombian officials showed AP reporters more than a dozen additional electronic documents, a small sample of the more than 11,000 papers they claimed were taken from the laptops seized in the March raid. U.S: intelligence experts, who had been given an opportunity to examine the documents prior to their release to the press, confirmed their authenticity.
According to a front page article published Friday in The Wall Street Journal, a senior U.S. official said, "There is complete agreement in the intelligence community that these documents are what they purport to be."
Colombian authorities have also asked Interpol to examine the documents for authenticity, and recently, Costa Rican authorities carried out a raid on a FARC-connected home in that country, seizing over $480,000 in cash. The house targeted in the raid was identified from information found on the Reyes computers, which also indicated that the FARC funds were stashed in the house.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Aloady
This is terrible news. I am horrified. Must stop to wring my hands. Need a towel to mop cold sweat from brow. Got the shakes already. Have to stock up on toilet paper. Heading for the hills. Sketching plans to build fortified compound. Ordering another Hummer. Getting idea for crappy B movie starring Robert Vaughn. Lots of explosions and apple pie. Yeah, that's it! Start the movie with scenes of apple pies exploding and people running for the nearest laundromats and dry cleaners. Yippie-ki-yi-yaa.....
2 - Dan Miller
Good morning, Clav
Good article. Having spent perhaps twelve months in Venezuela back in the late 90s and early 2000s, and living in Panama, I try rather hard to keep up with what's going on in Venezuela. It's a pig's breakfast, but Chavez is nowhere near as popular as he once was. The economy is going down the tubes, and oil production is diminishing because the technicians who formerly tended to things have gone away.
Here is a good blog site which, if you are not already familiar with it, you should read occasionally. It is written by a guy in a rather remote area of Venezuela, who thus far seems to have bypassed the censors. Back when Chavez was moving troops to the Colombian border, he monitored things very carefully, and it seemed to be that the mobilization was more smoke and mirrors than anything substantive.
From what I can see, there is little sympathy for Chavez or Castro here in Panama.
As you note, the U.S. is doing a poor job of maintaining and strengthening relations with Colombia and, for that matter, Panama, by failing to ratify the free trade agreements with both countries. The reasons are, of course, based substantially if not entirely on U.S. politics and substantively are nonsensical.
Dan
3 - Cindy D
The Colombians seized three laptops belonging to Reyes, finding evidence immediately that Venezuela had given FARC $300 million in funding.
$300 MILLION FROM CHAVEZ
TO FARC A FAKE
"That’s what George Bush tells us. And he got that from his buddy, the strange right-wing President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe.
So: After the fact, Colombia justifies its attempt to provoke a border war as a way to stop the threat of WMDs! Uh, where have we heard that before?
The US press snorted up this line about Chavez’ $300 million to “terrorists” quicker than the young Bush inhaling Colombia’s powdered export.
What the US press did not do is look at the evidence, the email in the magic laptop. (Presumably, the FARC leader’s last words were, “Listen, my password is ….”)"
You can view the e-mail on Greg Palast's site. It says nothing about 300 "million" anything. It does contain the word 300. I don't think I'll be taking the word of the powers that be (and whatever they feed to the ridiculous mockery of what we call journalism) on the rest of the docs. I'd rather see them with my own eyes.
Something smells bad, and as usual George W is involved.
4 - Dan Miller
Cindy D,
I would only point out that the date of the cited article is March 6, 2008, and that rigorous analysis of the computer contents (approximately eleven thousand documents) has been going on since then. A lot of analysis can take place in two months, and the computer contents seem to have been substantially verified.
Dan
5 - Cindy D
Dan,
The e-mail in question, the one you can actually read on Palast's site is the sole evidence for any imagined $300 million payment.
I hate so much doing all the work. Here, I'll give you a link to start you off if you'd like more info:
Subtitle: Colombian interpretation of documents discredited by analysts, OAS Secretary General
6 - batman
A couple months ago, I thought I recall reading mentions of a couple of these notes found on Reyes' computer: Mentioning arrangement of meeting with some "gringos" up north, who represent the new leader to be, that are sympathetic to the FARC cause?
7 - Clavos
He said, she said.
The Colombian government itself asked Interpol to conduct forensic analyses on all 11,000+ captured documents; the issue of their authenticity will be settled definitively when Interpol presents its report.
Regardless of whether the $300 million is found to be a correct figure or not, the totality of information found on the three (not one) laptops incontrovertibly proves that Chavez has been supporting FARC in a variety of ways, including supplying them with arms and offering them sanctuary inside Venezuela for more than a decade.
By doing so, he is actively attempting to disrupt and destabilize a sovereign nation.
8 - Clavos
What you refer to, batman, is a rumor (for want of a better word) circulating through the blogosphere about a supposed contact made with FARC personnel by "gringos" purporting to be connected in some way with the Obama campaign.
It sounded unlikely to me, and after much research, I could find no verification of it from a credible source, only blogs, so I didn't include it in the article.
9 - troll
...and what iyo should be done about this - ?
10 - Cindy D
Clavos,
First of all, how convenient that documents keep showing up LMAO!!!!
Second of all, where is this incontrovertible proof? Please, show me some. Taking the word of George W. Liar and company wouldn't count to anyone with more than two brain cells.
11 - Dave Nalle
Nice to see the shills are showing up.
Cindy. Why would anyone believe anything Greg Palast posts? He's a bought and sold communist propagandist with no legitimacy whatsoever.
And if that one email was the only evidence in March, who is to say that it is the only evidence now. What's more, Palast's argument ignores that later in the same document there is specific discussion of receiving payments in dollars and what to do with the money.
And in fact, there are other documents which refer to a loan of $250 million to FARC from Chavez, as well as other financial support and the purchase of 50kg of uranium and a variety of other munitions and missile components.
Interestingly there's also evidence in the documents that FARC representatives met with representatives of the Democratic Party to sound out whether Obama would have a less hostile policy towards FARC than the current administration.
Dave
12 - Dan Miller
Troll,
Fortunately, it seems likely that due to substantial and increasing economic and social unrest in Venezuela, President Chavez won't last too much longer. I don't think we need to do much, if anything, to hasten his implosion. If President Bush so much as sneezed in a southerly direction, President Chavez and the Venezuelan press (controlled almost entirely by the Venezuelan Government) would have a field day carping about the imperialist intentions of the United States, as evidenced by the obvious attempt to employ biological warfare against the country.
The U.S. should ratify the free trade agreements with both Colombia and Panama, and do it now. By refusing for purely political reasons to do so, we are sending a bad signal to countries in Central and South America.
Dan
13 - Clavos
troll,
Not sure what "this" refers to, but if you mean the overall situation vis-a-vis Colombia and Venezuela, I advocate stronger US ties with Colombia, including negotiating and implementing the trade agreement they seek, in order to strengthen and back up a government which has shown itself to be democratic and independent.
14 - troll
Dan - I agree with the your 'hands off' assessment
Clavos - I was referring to: he is actively attempting to disrupt and destabilize a sovereign nation.
15 - Clavos
What Dan said...
16 - Dan Miller
Dave,
I think I understand the psychology behind leftist encouragement in the U.S. of President Chavez and his ilk.
Bertrand Russell, years ago, wrote a satirical article about the Superior Virtues of the Oppressed. If one considers the oppressed to have superior virtues, then it is one's clear duty to see that they remain oppressed, or even better to increase their oppression, to make them even more virtuous than at present.
That explains it, doesn't it?
Dan
17 - Dan Miller
Dave,
The link to evidence in the last paragraph of your comment # 11 does not seem to work. I would like to read it.
Dan
18 - Clavos
Worked for me.
Here, try again.
19 - Clavos
Oops, sorry, Dan.
I don't see a link where you mentioned.
Dave?
20 - Dan Miller
Clav,
It's in the last paragraph, where "evidence" appears in blue, but placing a cursor over it doesn't yield a link.
Dan
21 - Cindy D
Cindy. Why would anyone believe anything Greg Palast posts? He's a bought and sold communist propagandist with no legitimacy whatsoever.
Sorry if I don't just take your word for anything Dave. It's nothing personal, it's sort of a habit with me that I like some evidence with opinions.
Merely saying things without any reference to evidence seems, well, a way of promoting one's own biases.
Dave, your second link did not come through. The one that was linked to the word "evidence".
BTW, nice article, sounds just like all the other articles though. Not sure why this one was so special.
By evidence, I mean copies of the public documents. Tip-toeing through a bunch of propaganda promoted by known liars to try to sort out the truth is hardly a likely way to obtain it.
22 - Clavos
BTW, nice article...
Thanks, Cindy!
23 - Cindy D
Dave,
You know that if you post something about Greg Palast, besides a derisive remark, you will have to do all the work of backing it up. Why? Because unlike some posters whom I argue with, you (like Clavos) seem to, at least in theory, acknowledge the fair rules of argument.
So, come on Dave, give it a shot. Show us how Greg Palast is a "bought and sold communist propagandist with no legitimacy whatsoever."
24 - Aloady
Me and Homer stuck a loudspeaker on the roof of the Hummer and we been driving round the neighborhood warning folks to leave town before their desserts start blowing up. That fat commie Chavez has the upper hand at the moment but we'll find a way to make our apple pies safe again for good God fearing right of center Americans. His dastardly plan to disrupt apple sales in the USA so that the whole crop is bought for fire sale prices in Caracas has been discovered in the nick of time. The next crop will be treated with a non-ignitable spray and Moms will be constantly reminded to wash all apples with the rest of the laundry. Thanks to me and Homer the town will be evacuated soon and the last of the factory reject tents and sleeping bags we invested in will be sold...at a handsome profit.
25 - Dave Nalle
Dan, the Obama contact is referenced in this ABC News story and the actual quote from the documents can be found in this article. Hopefully the links work this time.
There's no indication that Obama himself had anything to do with these contacts with FARC. What's notable about them is how aware FARC is that Obama's policies are likelyt to be more sympathetic to fellow marxists everywhere.
Dave