U.S. finds possible Venezuela-FARC ties "disturbing"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday new data about possible links between Venezuela and Colombia's FARC guerrilla group is disturbing but Washington is far from a decision to put Caracas on a terrorism blacklist.
Colombia on March 1 conducted a raid in Ecuador that killed top FARC leader Raul Reyes, sparking a crisis that was defused on Friday with a Colombian apology and promise not to take similar action if its neighbors cooperated in fighting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The Colombian government seized several computers as a result of the raid, saying they yielded data that proved leftist-led Ecuador and Venezuela were aiding the FARC, which the United States classifies as a terrorist group.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon said the United States was carefully studying the information on the computers as well as another one belonging to FARC leader Ivan Rios, who was killed by his own bodyguard last week.
"The information that has emerged so far is worrisome. I would even call it disturbing because it does seem to indicate a degree of dialogue and discussion between members of the government of Venezuela and the FARC that have to be explained," he told reporters. "But ... we are very early in the process and it would be a mistake to jump to conclusions."
While Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sympathizes with the FARC, he says Colombia's accusations are part of a U.S.-backed plot to smear him. His leftist government has also questioned how the machines could have survived the bombing raid.
Shannon would not be drawn on whether the information on the computers was strong enough to prompt the United States to place Venezuela on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Five countries are now on the list: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
"Declaring somebody a state sponsor of terrorism is a big step. It's a serious step. And it's one that we would only take after the very careful consideration of all the evidence," said Shannon, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America.
"We have to take a close look at all of the material that is in the hard drives of Raul Reyes and Ivan Rios and that's going to take a while. There is a lot of material in it."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Chavez had tried publicly to get the FARC removed from terrorism lists of other countries. "(Chavez was) saying that they shouldn't be considered terrorists when in fact they're considered terrorists because they engage in kidnappings and bombings," she told lawmakers.
Rice, who travels this week to Brazil and Chile, later said she was following developments relating to Venezuela and the FARC with interest.
"I would just note that it is an obligation of every member of the United Nations not to allow their territory to be used in any way to support terrorism, and not to support terrorists. and the FARC is a terrorist organization, and so there should be no support for them," she said at the beginning of a meeting with Colombia's defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos.
Being on the state sponsors of terrorism list imposes four main sets of U.S. sanctions: a ban on U.S. arms-related sales; export controls on so-called "dual-use" items with civilian and military applications; bans on certain economic aid, and financial sanctions, including U.S. opposition to World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans to the country.
It is not clear whether it would disrupt U.S. purchases of Venezuelan oil. Shannon said he did not know whether U.S. companies could be barred from importing Venezuelan oil if Venezuela were eventually added to the list.
(Editing by Kieran Murray)
