Interpol says Colombia FARC laptop files authentic

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian guerrilla computer documentsthat Bogota says are proof Venezuela and Ecuador supported theMarxist rebels are authentic and show no evidence of tampering,Interpol said on Thursday.

The international police agency's conclusion reinforcesColombian and U.S. officials' charges that the files showVenezuela backed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, orFARC.

But Interpol said it did not verify the files' contents,leaving open to debate whether they tie Venezuelan PresidentHugo Chavez to Latin America's oldest insurgency.

"Interpol concludes there was no tampering with any data,"Interpol chief Richard Noble said through an interpreter in aBogota. "We are absolutely certain that the computer discs ourexperts examined came from a FARC terrorist camp."

Chavez and Ecuadorean leader Rafael Correa, whosegovernment has also been implicated in the scandal, say thecharges are false and part of a U.S.-backed campaign todiscredit their left-leaning governments.

Colombia, which along with the United States labels theFARC terrorists, seized the laptops in a March raid on a rebelcamp inside Ecuador that killed a guerrilla leader.

Accusations based on the files from three laptops, harddrives and computer data keys are fuelling tensions in theAndean region, where Colombia is Washington's closest ally andVenezuela and Ecuador are fierce U.S. critics.

40 MILLION PAGES

Ties have been strained since the March raid in whichColombian forces killed rebel commander Raul Reyes, sparking adiplomatic crisis and fears of a regional war.

Colombia asked Interpol to carry out tests to guarantee ithad not manipulated the rebel material.

Dozens of Interpol agents scoured what Noble said were theequivalent of 40 million Microsoft Word pages, includingvideos, photographs, data spreadsheets and nearly 1,000encrypted files.

Colombian police claim the archives showed Chavez offeredfinancial aid to the rebels and Correa allowed them to hide outin Ecuador. U.S. officials say documents reveal the rebels'deep ties to Venezuela's government.

"There are serious allegations about Venezuela supplyingarms and support to a terrorist organization," U.S. StateDepartment spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Handing Interpol the evidence was meant to add credibilityto the charges, said Phillip McLean, an ex-U.S. diplomat withthe Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"But the computers give only one side of a conversation,i.e.: the FARC's. Intel analysts will find it fascinating, butit would be hard to call what comes out 'proof,'" he said.

U.S. officials often portray Chavez as a threat to regionalstability as he pushes his socialist revolution. The formersoldier says the United States is plotting with Colombia tooust him.

Chavez and Correa say contacts with rebels were only partof mediation efforts to free hostages held by the guerrillas.

The documents have prompted calls in the U.S. Congress forsanctions against Venezuela, a major U.S. oil supplier.

"Today's developments once again show the need for theState Department to fully recognize the very real threat thatChavez and his allies pose," Republican Rep. Connie Mack ofFlorida said.

But with oil prices hovering around record highs in apresidential election year, Washington is not expected to takea tougher line or apply sanctions without more evidence againstChavez, analysts said.

"The U.S. is unlikely to label Venezuela as a state sponsorof terrorism and impose sanctions unless they can substantiatethe FARC's first-hand, cryptic accounts with hard proof," saidPatrick Esteruelas at the Eurasia Group in New York.

(Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by SaulHudson and Xavier Briand)