After report on FARC files: silence
BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
Question of the day: Why hasn't 34-country Organization of American States chief José Miguel Insulza called for the regional group's investigation into the thousands of Interpol-verified computer files indicating that Venezuela and Ecuador are actively supporting Colombia's FARC guerrillas?
Before I tell you what Insulza told me in a long telephone interview this week, let's recall that key U.S. members of Congress are demanding an OAS investigation into the more than 37,000 computer files seized from slain Colombian FARC rebel leader Raúl Reyes.
Interpol, the world's largest police organization, certified last week that -- contrary to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's and his Ecuadoran colleague Rafael Correa's protestations -- the files were, indeed, from Reyes' computers and were not altered by Colombia.
In a May 13 letter to Insulza, Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, asked that the OAS' Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism hold hearings ``that could lead to appropriate actions by the OAS.''
Less diplomatically, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack of Fort Myers wrote to Insulza on April 14 saying that the OAS has become a ''puppet for the forces of tyranny,'' and called for an OAS panel to investigate the Chávez and Correa's links to the FARC.
Critics say Insulza could show leadership and act on his own. ''We are yet to find any information in the OAS bylaws that states that the secretary general cannot request a member country for information that has regional security implications for OAS member countries,'' a Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer told me Wednesday.
WHAT'S IN THE FILES
The Reyes computer files say, among other things, that Chávez had vowed to give $300 million to the FARC, and that the Colombian rebels had their own office inside Venezuela's military command in Fuerte Tiuna. They also say the FARC gave $100,000 to Correa's presidential campaign.
Asked why he hasn't called for an OAS investigation, Insulza told me ``it wouldn't be acceptable to the OAS General Council for me to act without a petition from a [OAS] member country.''
More Info: