Semana: FARC wanted to finance Correa campaign

The documents, whose authenticity was confirmed by two senior Colombian officials, also include a 2000 letter to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi asking for a US$100 million loan so the rebels could buy weapons including surface-to-air missiles.They describe, additionally, rebel ties to drug traffickers, meetings with senior Venezuelan police officials and an effort by Democrats in the U.S. Congress to employ Colombian Nobel laureate novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez in negotiations with the insurgents.The documents do not specify how much the rebels allegedly paid Ecuador’s leftist president, Rafael Correa, or who might have received the money.Correa vehemently denies accepting funds from the insurgents.”We do not fear being investigated over and over,” he told reporters on Sunday in Ecuador’s capital, where he met with Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States.Insulza said that he had no knowledge of FARC-Correa ties but that an OAS commission he is leading on the Andean crisis will investigate. It is expected to arrive in Bogota on Monday.An excerpt from an Oct. 12, 2006 letter that the Colombians say they recovered from Reyes’ laptop describes deliberations on how much to give the Correa campaign. The rebel’s top leader, Manuel Marulanda, tells Reyes that fellow members of the FARC’s ruling secretariat differ on whether to donate US$20,000, US$50,000 or US$100,000 to Correa’s presidential campaign. He says Reyes should quickly decide on the amount.”The Secretariat is in agreement with providing support to our friends from Ecuador,” Marulanda writes. “Can you let our friends know immediately, before it’s too late, the amount of the support … .”The first round of voting was Oct. 15, 2006. Correa was elected Nov. 26.A separate letter from Reyes to Marulanda dated Sept. 17 of that year discusses “support delivered to the campaign of Rafael Correa” but does not specify an amount or date.One of two high-ranking officials who confirmed to The Associated Press the authenticity of the documents published Sunday said Correa, as well members of Ecuadorean opposition parties, were given the letters that incriminate him before Friday’s summit in the Dominican Republic.”There are also more that will not be released to the press but which will be sent directly to Correa,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the documents’ political sensitivity.Correa has questioned the validity of the documents. “You can invent anything,” he said Saturday. “A simple printout has no legal validity.”