Chavez derides rebel data, reviews Colombian relations
President Hugo Chavez called the Interpol report on Colombian rebel computer files a "clown show," and said all relations with Colombia would undergo "deep review," as well as Venezuela's cooperation with Interpol.
Interpol said Thursday the computer files Colombia seized during a March 1 raid on a FARC rebel camp inside Ecuador had not been tampered with, but said nothing about their content, which Colombia alleges prove close links between FARC and Chavez and Ecuador.
"It's all a clown show that, in my view, doesn't deserve a serious comment ... it's not worth our time," Chavez told an international press briefing.
Even before Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble made his announcement, Colombia said the computer files proved Chavez "financed and armed" the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in their struggle to topple the Bogota government.
Colombia also said top Ecuadoran officials had met with FARC commanders -- Ecuador and Venezuela are allied, leftist regimes.
The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington had earlier branded Colombia's allegations as "outrageous and irresponsible accusations" and charged Colombia and the United States of using the computer files to launch a "propaganda" campaign.
Chavez went one step further, calling into question Venezuela's relations with Colombia and Venezuela's Interpol membership.
"We are therefore forced once again to put relations with Colombia under deep review; political, diplomatic, economic, everything."
Venezuela temporarily suspended ties with Colombia and sent troops to the border in March after the Colombian military raid on the rebel camp inside Ecuador, which killed FARC's second-in-command Raul Reyes.
Chavez also asked his interior and justice ministers and chief of police intelligence to look into Venezuela dropping out of Interpol and starting a new international police organization.
He referred to Interpol's chief as "Mr. Ignoble" and called him a "mafioso ... an aggressive Yankee cop ... a bum."
AFP
