CORRECTION - Chavez reviews Colombia ties after Interpol report

By Patrick Markey

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez onThursday said he was reviewing ties with Colombia after anInterpol report authenticated rebel computer documents thatBogota says prove the leftist leader has supported guerrillas.

The international police agency announced earlier onThursday that the documents showed no evidence of tampering butsaid it could not verify the computer contents. Chavez hasdismissed Bogota's charges as U.S.-backed propaganda.

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.

"We are obliged to once again deeply revise political,diplomatic and economic relations with Colombia," Chavez told anews conference in Caracas after the Interpol announcement inColombia.

"They keep on assaulting us and this shameful show todaywas a new act of aggression," he said. "Nothing matters tothem, they have no shame."

The international police agency's conclusion reinforcedColombian and U.S. officials' charges that the files showVenezuela has backed the Revolutionary Armed Forces ofColombia, or FARC.

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

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

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.

Chavez said the computers were planted at the guerrillacamp after the raid. He called Interpol chief Noble a "typical,aggressive gringo policeman."

Relations have been strained since the March raid whenColombian forces killed rebel commander Raul Reyes, sparking adiplomatic crisis and fuelling fears of war in the region.

VIDEOS, PHOTOGRAPHS, SPREADSHEETS

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

Dozens of Interpol agents scoured a selection of what Noblesaid were the equivalent of 40 million Microsoft Word pages,including videos, photographs, data spreadsheets and nearly1,000 encrypted files.

Colombian police claim the archives show that Chavezoffered financial aid to the rebels and that Ecuador's leaderRafael Correa allowed them to hide across his frontier. U.S.officials say documents reveal the rebels' deep ties toVenezuela's government.

"There are serious allegations about Venezuela supplyingarms and support to a terrorist organization," U.S. StateDepartment spokesman Sean McCormack 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 made onlyas part of mediation efforts to free hostages held by theguerrillas.

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 was not expected to takea tougher line or apply sanctions without more evidence againstChavez, analysts said.

(Additional reporting by Frank Daniel in Caracas; Editingby Saul Hudson and Eric Walsh)