Colombia’s main rebel group and top Chávez government officials – including President Hugo Chávez himself – have a complicated and often turbulent history of cooperation. That is the news making headlines all over the world today, following Tuesday’s unveiling of a study of thousands of files belonging to FARC’s former second in command, Raúl Reyes, that were confiscated in a 2008 raid in Ecuador.
The 240-page analysis, “The FARC Files: Venezuela, Ecuador, and the Secret Archive of Raul Reyes,” was released by London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) after a 2-year investigation of more than 8,000 documents found in eight computer hard drives. In its study, the IISS concluded that:
–Reyes met with President Chávez shortly after he took office in 1999 and offered military and monetary assistance designed to “change the military balance of power in Colombia.”
–The Venezuelan government funded FARC’s office in Caracas and President Chávez allowed the FARC “to use Venezuelan territory for refuge, cross-border operations and political activity, and effectively assigned the group a role in Venezuelan civil society.”
–Two of Mr. Chávez’s main liaisons with the FARC were Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, the number two at Venezuela’s National Intelligence Directorate (Disip) and Freddy Bernal, the former mayor of the municipality of Libertador.
–President Chávez promised $300 million in 2007 to the FARC.
–Following a 2002 coup that briefly ousted Chávez from power, the FARC provided training in guerrilla and urban warfare to various militias that were formed to defend Mr. Chávez.
–In September 2002, FARC’s man in Caracas, Rodrigo Granda, sent a message saying that “Amin,” his contact in Venezuela’s Disip, needed experts in small arms and explosives “to get rid of counter-revolutionaries.” Later that year, opposition members were shot and bombs were planted during public protests against the government.
The Venezuelan strongman has said the documents are fake propaganda aimed at harming his government. The documents, however, have been authenticated by Interpol. Last month, Mr. Chávez admitted publicly that some of his political allies had collaborated with Colombian rebels, but insisted they “went behind all our backs.”
The analysis also details various instances in which President Chávez has betrayed the FARC. In April, Mr. Chávez ordered the extradition to Colombia of Joaquín Pérez, a suspected senior FARC operative who had been living in Sweden.
The IIS analysis also concluded that Ecuador President Rafael Correa – a close personal friend of Mr. Chávez – was directly involved in requesting financial backing from the FARC for his presidential campaign. The IISS study comes at a time when Caracas and Bogotá have dramatically improved their ties after a period of incendiary bilateral relations. Only time will tell how long the honeymoon will last.