The FARC laptops

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/opinion/25sun2.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=farc&st=nyt&oref=slogin

The New York Times says "Interpol has corroborated the authenticity of thousands of computer files captured during a Colombian Army raid on a FARC rebel camp in Venezuela. Only a small share of this trove has been released, but it leaves little doubt that Venezuela has been aiding the guerrillas’ effort to overthrow Colombia’s democratically elected government. "

Duh. The raid was into Ecuador, not into Venezuela.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/world/americas/30colombia.html?fta=y

About the data itself this is what Interpol has to say:

http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/PressReleases/PR2008/pdfPR200817/ipPublicReportNoCoverEN.pdf

The verification of the eight seized FARC computer exhibits by INTERPOL does not imply
the validation of the accuracy of the user files, the validation of any country’s interpretation
of the user files or the validation of the source of the user files. It is well established that for
law enforcement purposes, factual findings concerning the truth or accuracy of the content of
any item of evidence are made in the context of a judicial process at the national or
international level and/or by a specially appointed commission with jurisdiction over the
matter in dispute.

In other words, Interpol is not verifying that the data was placed onto the computers by FARC or that the data means what the Colombian government says it means.

There is an ongoing low intensity war being waged by the US and Colombia against Venezuela. The war manifests itself in many ways including the use of "Black propaganda" to weaken the credibility of the Venezuelan government, an incursion into Venezuela by Colombian troops (denied by Colombia) a violation of Venezuelan airspace by the US (not denied, the US says it overflew Venezuela's version of Camp David by mistake,) the reconstitution of the US 4th Fleet, and US funding of oposition groups in Venezuela. Also the right wing death squad narcoparamilitaries of Colombia called "AUC" are functioning within Venezuela, a weak state that has yet to gain control over its borders. Here is a video related to one succesful Venezuelan Army skirmnish with the supposedly demobilized pro US narcoterrorists.

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Doubts raised about "FARC Computers"

Some analysts have raised doubts about Interpol’s conclusions. Three professors of information technology at the Polytechnic University of Ecuador, led by Deacon Carlos Montenegro, held a press conference today criticizing the Interpol report.

The professors emphasized the report did not prove much at all, given the limited scope of the investigation and said Interpol’s face-value acceptance of the devices as FARC property was a contradiction of the report’s own findings. They not only criticized the scope of the report, but also the conclusions of its technical findings.

They seized on the agency’s methodology, which only examined images of the hard drives’ user files handed over by Colombia, and not the hard drives themselves. They demonstrated to a crowd of reporters how easy it is to change the creation and modification dates on documents. They asserted these changes would only leave digital traces on the actual hard drives, which have remained in Colombian custody. Investigators would need access to the actual hard drives and the system files to determine whether and when modifications occurred, according to the Ecuadorian analysts.

The Ecuadorian professors also pointed out that Interpol has now way of determining whether Colombian officials modified, deleted, or created documents between March 1 and 3, as the report contends. In fact, by the Colombian government’s own admission, its handling of the computer devices during those days did not conform to internationally recognized standards on the chain of custody when dealing with forensic evidence. Interpol’s contention that the devices were not modified is based on nothing more than faith in Colombia’s sincerity, argued the professors.

They called on Interpol to release a copy of the hard disks so that independent analysts could investigate. Interpol’s findings have been presented in two reports: one public and another classified report that was shared only with the Colombian government.

Interpol’s report is the latest ingredient in Colombia’s media war against Ecuador and Venezuela after the March attack. While it is far from clear what will happen next, it is plain to see that Colombia is confident that the international media will continue to print their preferred interpretation.





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Daniel Denvir (daniel.denvir(AT)gmail.com) is an activist and freelance journalist living in Quito, Ecuador. His writing has appeared in Labor Notes, Portland Street Roots and Upsidedownworld.org. He works with the Latin American Information Agency (www.alainet.org).