Venezuela dismisses 'unreliable' report about FARC links

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela dismisses 'unreliable' report about FARC links
Tuesday, 10 May 2011 12:38
Tom Heyden

Venezuela's Embassy in London has dismissed a report detailing the supposed links between Venezuela, Ecuador and the FARC, labelling it "unreliable" due to its heavy reliance on the controversial "Raul Reyes" files, reported several media sources.

~snip~
The prime issue of contention appears to be over the "Raul Reyes" files themselves, with the Venezuelan Embassy pointing towards Interpol's assessment that Colombian authorities did not "conform to internationally recognized principles for the routine treatment of electronic evidence."

There is also a discrepancy over when the documents were last viewed, with Interpol only being able to verify that they had not been opened after March 3, 2008, whereas the files were seized in Colombia's FARC raid on the Ecuadorean side of the border on March 1.

The embassy further noted how the Colombian Supreme Court had considered the evidence from fallen leader "Raul Reyes"' computers to be legally inadmissable, drawing the "surprise" of the Venezuelans that it was used to make the report's conclusions.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16143-venezuela-dismisses-unreliable-report-about-farc-links.html

[Bacchus39]

1. Venezuela, Ecuador heavily implicated in new study of FARC files

The veracity and authenticity of the Raul Reyes computer files has often been contested in both Venezuela and Ecuador, even though Interpol dismissed the possibility of them being fabrications and several governments have successfully used the information gleaned from the files as a base for various operations.


http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16130-venezuela-ecuador-heavily-implicated-in-new-study-of-farc-files.html

[Judi Lynn]

6. As written from the first, the following, repeated again in this article:

What the Farc files really reveal
A conservative thinktank's attempt to reheat widely discredited Colombian military claims about Farc is pure black propaganda
Greg Grandin and Miguel Tinker Salas
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 May 2011 20.30 BST

~snip~
The IISS, and others who want the world to believe in the documents' authenticity, rest much of their case on the supposed verification of the files by Interpol. But what Interpol actually said, in its 2008 report on the documents, was that the Colombian military's treatment of the files "did not conform to internationally recognised principles for the ordinary handling of electronic evidence by law enforcement". Interpol noted that there was a one-week period between the computer documents' capture by Colombia, and when they were handed over to Interpol, during which time the Colombian authorities actually modified 9,440 files, and deleted 2,905, according to Interpol's detailed forensic report. This "may complicate validating this evidence for purposes of its introduction in a judicial proceeding", Interpol noted at the time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/may/10/farc-files-colombia-venezuela

[Judi Lynn]

2. We all knew this long ago: "Hugo Chavez, the FARC laptop, and the non-existent emails"

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Hugo Chavez, the FARC laptop, and the non-existent emails

http://3.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_FxCl-zDjIOQ/SVK_J-c_UxI/AAAAAAAADl8/_kiVEzQSIHI/s400/fake.jpg

~snip~
Excerpt from report:

(F)or nine long months after the Colombian military obliterated the Farc camp, leaving only one survivor: that amazing bombproof laptop, the official version stood largely unchallenged. Chavez was damned as a sponsor of terrorism, his reputation sullied, his honesty called into question.

Then, in early December, the official version, already widely disbelieved across Latin America, began to crumble. The Colombian government-appointed investigator, Captain Ronald Coy, stated under oath that he had found only word documents in the laptop, and not a single email:

QUESTION: “Please state to this office if you have found in the electronic elements seized from Raul Reyes, files corresponding to email messages sent to or received by him.”

COY’S ANSWER: “Proper emails have not been found so far. A large amount of e-mail addresses have been found, but Reyes kept the information stored in word and other Microsoft software.”

http://lanr.blogspot.com/2008/12/hugo-chavez-farc-laptop-and-non.html

[Bacchus39]

3. there you go, email addresses. I don't have emails on my computer either

I, like most people, use a web based server. "my" emails are located there.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Read for comprehension. It helps. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

4. What the Farc files really reveal

What the Farc files really reveal
A conservative thinktank's attempt to reheat widely discredited Colombian military claims about Farc is pure black propaganda

Greg Grandin and Miguel Tinker Salas
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 May 2011 20.30 BST

The release Tuesday of a "dossier" of Farc files, which were supposedly seized by the Colombian government in 2008, is truly a non-event. The report, by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), appears to be an attempt by hawks in the US and the UK to perpetuate, using "black propaganda", the failed policies of the George W Bush administration, as well as previous administrations of the cold war era, to which they respectively once belonged. All of its conclusions are based on the false premise that the documents that it claims to analyse are entirely trustworthy.

Impartial observers of the events surrounding the supposed capture of computer files from the Farc, and their subsequent revelation in the media, have long ago concluded that the files are highly dubious at best. The Colombian military, which claims to have obtained the documents from computers and flash drives following an illegal bombing raid on a Farc camp inside Ecuador in March 2008, is the only party that can know for sure whether the documents are authentic.

The IISS, and others who want the world to believe in the documents' authenticity, rest much of their case on the supposed verification of the files by Interpol. But what Interpol actually said, in its 2008 report on the documents, was that the Colombian military's treatment of the files "did not conform to internationally recognised principles for the ordinary handling of electronic evidence by law enforcement". Interpol noted that there was a one-week period between the computer documents' capture by Colombia, and when they were handed over to Interpol, during which time the Colombian authorities actually modified 9,440 files, and deleted 2,905, according to Interpol's detailed forensic report. This "may complicate validating this evidence for purposes of its introduction in a judicial proceeding", Interpol noted at the time.

Following their remarkable initial "discovery" and "capture" (the computers, we were told, survived a bombing raid completely unscathed), the Colombian military made "revelations" that quickly turned out to be false. A photo depicting a high-level Ecuadorian official meeting with the Farc was revealed to be a fake. Even more embarrassing, the Colombian military's claims that files showed the Farc were planning to make a "dirty bomb" were publicly dismissed by the US government and terrorism experts.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/may/10/farc-files-colombia-venezuela

Editorials:
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