Colombia’s leftist guerrilla group FARC was interested in selling uranium to the Venezuelan government in 2008, according to a Venezuelan opposition newspaper.
Newspaper El Nacional based its accusations on allegedly unpublished emails between FARC leaders.
One of the alleged emails between slain FARC commander “Raul Reyes” to the ex-head of the FARC’s 48th Front, “Edgar Tovar,” read; “another issue is that of uranium. There is a man who supplies me with the explosive materials that we prepare, and his name is Belisario, and he lives in Bogota; he’s a friend of ‘Jhon 40’; he sent me samples and the specifications and offered to sell each kilo at $2.5 million and that they deliver and we look at whom we will sell to, and that shall be the business with a government…. they have 50 kilos ready and can sell a lot more; they have direct contact with those that have the product.”
That message from February 16, 2008 agrees with another between Reyes and FARC commander, “Ivan Marquez,” over the amount of uranium discussed. Reyes stressed the importance of selling the metal saying, “on these sides they offer 50 kilos of uranium with the possibility of acquiring more amounts… It occurs to me that ‘Angel’ might have an interest in this product for their friends from distant lands. I hope to discuss this topic with the man.”
According to an analysis of these letters by the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), “Angel” is a pseudonym that is associated with Venezuela, and the man “who might have an interest” in the product would be none other than Venezuela’s President, Hugo Chavez. The emails quoted by El Nacional never appeared in a book by the IISS with all alleged emails.
A letter that Marquez sent to the FARC Secretariat on December 27, 2007 also mentioned efforts being carried out from the head of the “Cojo,” whom the IISS has established to be Venezuela’s two-time Minister of Interior and Justice, Ramon Rodriguez Chacin.
This is not the first time Chavez has been accused of financially supporting the FARC, however, the erroneous handling of computers have made Colombian courts reject laptops as evidence in cases against politicians and human rights workers who were accused of having ties to the FARC.