WSJ: Chavez, FARC in deep cahoots

According to an article published in today’s Wall Street Journal, (WSJ), there are very deep ties between Venezuela’s government and Colombia’s FARC guerillas. The report alleged that their data was based on “more than 100 new files” taken from laptops seized after the controversial Colombian army raid in Ecuador last March:

These documents indicate Venezuela appears to be making concrete offers to help arm the rebels, possibly with rocket-propelled grenades and ground-to-air missiles. The files suggest that Venezuela offered the FARC the use of one of its ports to receive arms shipments, and that Venezuela raised the prospect of drawing up a joint security plan with the FARC and sought basic training in guerrilla-warfare techniques.

The article goes on to note that separate statements from the Venezuelan government and the FARC have denied the documents that are supposedly from the seized computers. In addition, the piece said that international police organization Interpol is currently investigating the legitimacy of the computer files.

Several bloggers have reacted to the WSJ piece; for instance, BoRev.net questions the validity of the anonymous sources cited in the piece. Meanwhile, the Heritage Foundation’s blog has accused “liberals in Congress” of helping the FARC based on legislators' relations with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

Image- CNN

Sources- AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Latin Americanist, Reuters UK, BoRev.net, The Foundry