The Ecuadorean government on Tuesday handed over files found on the computer fo FARC leader “Raul Reyes” to the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office for analysis.
Ecuadorean Minister for Security and the Interior Miguel Carvajal said that Colombia had provided two “mirror copies” of the hard disks, which were recovered in the Colombian army 2008 raid of a FARC camp on Ecuadorean soil, in which Reyes was killed.
Carvajal said that the Ecuadorean executive and the prosecutor general will conduct parallel investigations into the contents of the discs, and “analyze and pay close attention to the aspects regarding national security.”
Colombia has claimed that the discs’ contents prove links between the administration of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and the FARC.
“We have had two years of media campaigns against [Ecuador], trying to link our government with the FARC, which has been completely distorted. There are many criticisms and it is possible that there is a lot of proof of manipulation of the information,” said Carvajal.
The minister added that following the media campaign, it is Ecuador’s “right” to view the evidence that Colombia claims backs up its allegations.
Ecuadorean Defense Minister Javier Ponce said he was confident that Bogota’s accusations would be thrown out with the trash.
“We have absolute confidence in our acts and we believe that this material will not even remotely reveal these type of affirmations and accusations,” Ponce said.
Carvajal said that the handing over of the files on Saturday by the new administration of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was a positive gesture. Submitting the files to Ecuador for analysis was one of Santos’ first acts as president, following his inauguration Saturday.
Ecuador broke diplomatic relations with Colombia following the 2008 raid. While the two nations began to work towards repairing ties in the second half of 2009, Correa maintained that complete restoration of relations was dependent on Colombia supplying Ecuador with Reyes’ files, which the administration of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe refused to comply with.
Correa said Monday with in an interview with W Radio that Ecuador is disposed to re-establish ties with Colombia, now that the files have been handed over.
