SHOULD OAS SECRETARY GENERAL INSULZA CALL FOR HEARINGS ON FARC FILES?
Sen. Richard Lugar of the Foreign Relations Committee is calling for OAS Secretary Jose Miguel Insulza to call hearings on the Colombian FARC guerrillas' computer files, which refer to Venezuela and Ecuador's active support for the colombian rebels. Here is a copy of Lugar's letter to Insulza: http://lugar.senate.gov/sfrc/pdf/FARC.pdf. What do you think? What should be done?
posted by Andres Oppenheimer at 9:11 AM
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12 Comments:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/
releases/2008/04/20080414-1.html
Dear Mr. Oppenheimer:
I must respectfully disagree with you. Insulza is correct in his reaction. Remember that there is no love lost between Insulza and Chávez, and after Insulza had disagreed with Chávez´s non-renewal of RCTV´s license, Chávez called Insulza--if my memory serves me--«un pendejo desde la p hasta la o».
Have you read the entire 102 page Interpol report available online at www.interpol.int, in English, Spanish, French and Arabic?
If so, you would have learned that on page 30, the report explicitly says:
"When law enforcement directly accesses seized electronic evidence without first making physical images of the data, such access leaves traces of the relevant law enforcement officer’s accessing and viewing of the evidence. Direct access may complicate validating this evidence for purposes of its introduction in a judicial proceeding, because law enforcement is then required to demonstrate or prove that the direct access did not have a material impact on the purpose for which the evidence is intended."
The Interpol Report's Executive Summary itself says: "The remit of the IRT and INTERPOL’s subsequent assistance to Colombia’s investigation did not include the analysis of the content of documents, folders or other material on the eight seized FARC computer exhibits. The accuracy and source of the user files contained in the eight seized FARC computer exhibits are and always have been outside the scope of INTERPOL’s computer forensic examination." (Page 7)
It also says "The IRT deployed to Colombia (...) included two forensic experts from Australia and Singapore selected by their national police administrations. The experts came from outside of the region and did not speak Spanish, which helped to eliminate the possibility that they might be influenced by the content of any data they were examining." (Page 7 of the Executive Summary). INTERPOL never made pronouncements on the contents of the computer drives because none of its forensic experts spoke Spanish—on purpose, so that the findings would not be influenced.
Finally, on page 9, the report reads "The verification of the eight seized FARC computer exhibits by INTERPOL does not imply the validation of the accuracy of the user files, the validation of any country’s interpretation of the user files or the validation of the source of the user files."
So please read the Interpol report and explain to me how it validates any of Bogotá´s or Washington´s accusations.
Sincerely,
Flávio Américo dos Reis
Translator/Contributing Editor
World Press Review
www.worldpress.org
Obviously the Colombians are exaggerating their case, as just about every independent analyst who has looked at the files has noted. Colombia doesn't want an independent investigation--which is why they haven't asked for one--they want a group of media suckers like Oppenheimer giving the world half the story.
SO CHAVEZ AND CORREA ARE SAINTS ?
Well, not necessarily, Anonymous. Canonization is the act by which the Catholic Church declares a deceased person to be a saint, inscribing that person in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. The process of canonization is reserved to the Holy See, and occurs at the conclusion of a long process requiring extensive proof that the person proposed for canonization lived, and died, in such an exemplary and holy way that he or she is worthy to be recognized as a saint. The Church's official recognition of sanctity implies that the persons are now in heavenly glory, that they may be publicly invoked and mentioned officially in the Liturgy of the Church, most especially in the Litany of the Saints in the Canon of the Mass.
Notice that a person qualifies five years their decease, when the Church opens an investigation. The Pope has the authority to waive the waiting period, as was done in the case of Mother Theresa. But you have to be dead. (And I’m sure there are people—both in Venezuela and the US—working on that.)
On the other hand, to judge from the news on the Miami Herald, The New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, etc., Álvaro Uribe Velez—despite his known ties to paramilitary death squads and narcotrafficking (see http://tinyurl.com/3ktl3c)—may be the next one after Mother Theresa to get a papal dispensation, this time while still alive.
Making mercenaries pay
The Miami Herald
Byline: Francisco Santos Calderon, Vice President of Colombia
Mayo 23 de 2008
Early in the morning of May 13, the government of Colombia put a number of criminals on a waiting DEA aircraft and extradited them to the United States.
These were not just any criminals. They are former members of the paramilitaries -- illegal armed groups that emerged in our country in the 1990s as mercenaries to battle other illegal armed groups claiming to be leftist revolutionary guerrillas.
The Colombian people were caught in the crossfire. Indeed, both groups showed themselves to be terrorists preying upon the innocent and vulnerable. Through drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion and murder these paramilitaries and guerrillas enforced their authority and influence in many parts of our country.
Since President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002, he has had one overriding objective -- liberating the Colombian people from terrorists and establishing the legitimate authority of the Colombian government and armed forces throughout our nation.
This is what has become known as Democratic Security.
As part of a peace process designed to free ourselves from the grip of these criminal gangs for good, the Colombian people offered these groups a clear bargain under the Justice and Peace Law enacted in 2005: Stop your crimes now and fully confess all those you have committed in the past in complete cooperation with our justice system. Then disclose and return your assets for reparations to your victims.
In return, the Colombian people will agree to shorter prison terms and give you the opportunity to reintegrate into society.
Peace and Justice Law
To date, the Peace and Justice Law has produced good results. But there is still a long a way to go. More than 500 paramilitaries are in prison with another 2,000 going into the process. There have been confessions to more than 5,600 murders, and more than 1,400 bodies have been found in 1,200 unmarked graves because of the testimony provided during this process.
The bulk of this information has come from midlevel commanders and other lower rank members because of the simple fact that they were the ones who actually committed these crimes.
Meanwhile, the paramilitary leaders, although sitting in prison, had been playing a game of cat and mouse with Colombian authorities for too long. None of them had fully cooperated with the justice system as required. And all of them had failed to make reparations to their victims, instead concealing their assets or delaying their surrender.
This was a clear violation of the terms of the Peace and Justice Law. And since the only choice is to comply, fully and truthfully, the government exercised its legitimate authority and took steps for their immediate extradition.
There were no second chances in this bargain. No do-overs.
Trials in the United States
We have reached an agreement with the U.S. administration, that the government and people of Colombia will send representatives to these criminals' trials, that will be conducted in the United States, in order to continue the quest for the truth of the crimes they committed in Colombia. This is consistent with our firm commitment to end impunity and secure a lasting peace.
Further, we have secured judicial cooperation agreements with the United States, which will make it easier to exchange evidence between our two countries.
More important, the United States and Colombia have agreed that the assets of the individuals extradited that may be recovered by American courts will be used to make reparations to Colombian victims.
Some suggest that extradition may prevent victims from confronting their tormentors or getting the reparations that they are owed.
This is not true.
These extraditions will actually remove the pressure on those members currently in the process to keep quiet and will accelerate the rate of forthcoming truth and reparation testimonies. Those who argue otherwise haven't looked at the facts or do not understand the dynamics of the process.
We are also convinced that our decision to extradite these criminals will prevent future crimes and victims.
We understand that there can be no avoidance of accountability and reparations as a result of these extraditions. We will continue to pursue and seize all assets of these criminals to make reparations to the victims. There is an absolute commitment to that end.
This government's policies, coupled with the commitment of our brave prosecutors, judges, soldiers and police, have greatly reduced the rate of violence in Colombia and are moving us steadfastly toward the total and final overthrow of Colombia's terrorists and organized criminals.
Colombia probes FARC ties to lawmakers, foreigners
Fri May 23, 2008 2:04am BST
(Reuters)
By Patrick Markey
BOGOTA, May 22 (Reuters) - Colombian prosecutors asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to probe three lawmakers, including an ally of Venezuela's president, for suspected rebel ties based on files found on a guerrilla commander's laptops.
Attorney General Mario Iguaran said prosecutors also opened an inquiry into two Colombian journalists, a U.S. academic, an Ecuadorean politician and a Venezuelan regional lawmaker for possible links to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC.
Archives from the computers are fueling diplomatic tensions in the Andean region after Washington ally Colombia charged their contents showed Venezuela and Ecuador provided support to the FARC, Latin America's oldest insurgency.
"After an analysis and a police report, there are indications of presumed ties between the FARC and three Colombian lawmakers, five Colombian citizens and four foreigners," Iguaran told a news conference.
He said the three Colombian lawmakers included Sen. Piedad Cordoba, who sympathizes with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's left-wing ideas and has tried to broker a deal to free hostages held by the FARC, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.
Chavez and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, both harsh critics of Washington's free-market policies, dismiss the computer documents as part of a U.S.-organized smear campaign to undermine their governments.
The computers were found in March after Colombian forces attacked a FARC camp inside Ecuador to kill commander Raul Reyes. The assault triggered a brief regional crisis, with Ecuador and Venezuela sending troops to Colombia's borders.
Cordoba could not be reached for comment. She has said her ties to the guerrillas were part of her role, formerly approved by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, in mediating hostage release deals. Last year, she visited Reyes' camp to attempt hostage negotiations.
Former presidential candidate Alvaro Leyva, who has openly acted as a mediator between the government and the FARC in the past and worked for a hostage accord, was also named.
"All we have done is work for peace and the humanitarian accord," Carlos Lozano, editor of the Communist party-linked newspaper, Voz, told Caracol television after prosecutors listed him in the probe.
POLITICAL PARALLELS
Violence from Colombia's four-decade conflict has eased as Uribe's U.S.-backed campaign weakened the FARC. Outlawed paramilitaries who once killed in the name of counterinsurgency have mostly disarmed under a peace deal.
But Uribe is under pressure over a scandal tying some of his lawmaker allies to paramilitary commanders. More than 60 legislators are under investigation or in jail awaiting trial for suspected collaboration with militia bosses.
Thursday's announcement came after Interpol, the international police agency, said files from the three FARC laptops and hardware were authentic and not manipulated. It could not vouch for the veracity of the content.
The computer documents have fueled calls by some members of the U.S. Congress for Chavez to face sanctions for aiding a group labeled a terrorist organization by U.S. and European officials. Analysts say that is unlikely as Venezuela supplies a large portion of U.S. oil needs. (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by Peter Cooney)
VIDEO
FARC-CHAVEZ-CORREA
http://es.youtube.com/watch?
v=P_fvrD_voy4
KEEP GOING..URIBE :) !!!!
Evidence from an illegal action may not be very valuable in a court room.
Mr Insulza , in my opinion, did the right thing letting those gorillas play and have fun together.
Chavez and Uribe are both populists, with records of corruption and paramilitary friendship.
We ,the civilised South america :) , have two choices:
-look away & wait and see
-front attack to the plan colombia and the bolivarian revolution.
my choice is n°2, but the lack of leadership makes it look like scifi :)
So we buy guns and ammunitions.
As long as the plan colombia will go, peace is impossible; why ?
since plan colombia begun, the price of cocaine in the world market have been divided by 2.
Wasn't it supposed to stop production instead of doubling it ?
I wonder where is Oliver North......
Well since no one else wants to respond to Flávio Américo dos Reis, I will, because there is deception in both the formulation of his question and in the presentation of his evidence.
First of all; Mr. dos Reis presents the quote from the report that refers to the accessing of files without taking images of them without Interpol's evaluation of whether any changes were made. Well I have a copy of the Interpol report and since Mr. dos Reis has raised the question as to the potential for damaging the authenticity of the files by accessing them, I think it is worth looking at Interpol's evaluation as to whether any changes occurred.
On page 33 of the report you can read Interpol's official "Finding" as to possible alerations of the files. I quote:
"Finding 3: INTERPOL found no evidence that user files were created, modified or deleted on any of the eight seized FARC computer exhibits following their seizure on 1 March 2008 by Colombian authorities."
The report goes on to make clear that, continuing on page 33, "INTERPOL’s experts
found not a single user file on any of the eight exhibits had been created, modified or deleted following their seizure on 1 March 2008." They did verify that the files were accessed through their examination of the system files, which are created by the operating system when a file is accessed, but they eliminated the possibility of any overwriting, alteration, insertion, or deletion of files whatsoever. After examining all of the evidence their conclusion (page 34) is that "Taking into account all of the above and based on a comprehensive forensic examination, INTERPOL’s experts conclude that no user files have been created, modified or deleted on any of the eight FARC computer exhibits following their seizure on 1 March 2008."
Mr. dos Reis also cites three additional quotes from the Interpol report which taken together make clear from Interpol's perspective, and this really reflects proper use of forensics evidence within an investigation, that there are two separate aspects to an examination of the Reyes' documents; one that would address the authenticity and integrity of the files presented (the computer forensics investigation) and a second that would address the meaning of their content. Interpol's report makes clear, as revealed in the quotes Mr. dos Reis cites, that the scope of their investigation covered only an examination of the authenticity and integrity of the files on the hard drives, which they verified. But Mr. dos Reis then takes that verification and presents it as negating any substantiation of the meaning of their content, which is a fallacious argument for its irrelevancy to the question at hand, which asks "should the meaning of the content of the Reyes' documents now be examined openly by the OAS following Interpol's validation of their authenticity?"
Mr. dos Reis would have us believe that, since Interpol verified the authenticity of the documents, the meaning of their content should not be examined because Interpol could not substantiate the content in their investigation. What Senator Lugar is requesting of the OAS is that they now proceed with the logical second step, which is to delve into the meaning of the information contained on the Reyes' hard drives. That is not Interpol's purview, but the OAS is one -- there are others -- organizational body that can investigate such meaning.
And they should conduct that investigation. But I doubt that they will because the OAS is notorious for sweeping problems such as these under the rug, which is what I expect they will do here once again.
StJacques
It may seem that Interpol has involved itself in a matter which it has no business being involved with. Since the Interpol mandate has no criteria for international terrorism, Interpol should stay out of the matter. Secretary General Insulza should call for hearings which lead to OAS oversight involvement. Since the Columbian military can appeal to higher authority in this matter, the FARC should say that they are in favor of this action if they do not want to be absent of I.Q. Should the information on the "Reyes Computers" be leaked to the universe, it would benefit the Columbian military. OAS involvement in an oversight capacity leverages the Organization of American States on behalf of the member states to prevent international terrorism against nations which have an interest in their own sustainability. The Columbians can exercise their membership. Since Secretary General Insulza can act of behalf of the OAS to diminish blowback from the three nations against Columbia, he should take action against the FARC and those three nations.
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