EL UNIVERSAL

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) said that the computers examined by its experts belonged to the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and found no evidence that the Colombian government biased, modified, deleted or added information.
 
"We are absolutely certain that the computer exhibits that our experts examined came from a FARC terrorist camp. Mr. (Raúl) Reyes is now dead. But they were definitely his computers, his disks, his hardware," said Interpol's secretary general, Ronald K. Noble, AP quoted.

The chief of the international police added that the report is now public, but the decision to disseminate the files found in Reyes' computer fell to Bogotá.

Interpol limited itself to verifying whether Colombia altered the files and correctly handled the evidence, but did not address the contents of the documents.

The 39-page report puts increasing pressure on the Venezuelan government as it should explain about the files which show its close links with FARC.

The Interpol's secretary general explained that 983 files were decrypted. For this procedure, the three computers remained turned on around the clock for two weeks. The teams worked 4,000 hours on the report.

"No one can ever question whether or not the Colombian government tampered with the seized FARC computers" and they "came from a FARC terrorist camp," Noble explained.

"I clarified during my presentation, and it is very clear in the report, that I have made every effort to clarify to Ecuador and Venezuela which are Interpol's members, that I am ready to go there to explain what we did and how we did it," he said.

The three laptops were found inside metallic portfolios and were bought in Florida, said a Colombian government official who asked for anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the topic.

Noble said that most of the files received by Reyes were seemingly encrypted and his aide Eliana used to open them for the rebel commander. The woman died also during the shelling on the camp.

For his part, Colombian Attorney General Mario Iguarán noted that Interpol confirmed that the "chain of custody" of the computers property of the FARC chief had been observed.

"Following the certificates submitted by Interpol, a most reliable and trustworthy institution with the largest history, the Attorney General Office will be entrusted with the task of analyzing the information," he added.

Translated by Conchita Delgado