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<strong>by Rod Hughes</strong>

A report by the police intelligence agency DIS to a special congressional investigating committee yesterday reveals damning evidence of frequent references to Costa Rican political figures in e-mail communications between leaders of the guerrilla/narco-terrorist group FARC, including glowing references to a minority lawmaker and an ex-president.

The report seems to back up former Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal’s controversial speculation that FARC may have penetrated the political scene here. The e-mails were downloaded from laptop computers captured by the Colombian army in its raid on a FARC outpost in Ecuador March 1. The raid killed 20 FARC soldiers including Raul Reyes, the organization’s number two official.

By mid-March Berrocal found himself fired by Persident Oscar Arias who even went on TV to disavow his minister’s statements. Testifying before the lawmakers this month, Berrocal did not reveal names of those with FARC connections. Yet, the DIS report says that the captured computers show some 36 messages involving such political figures as former President Rodrigo Carazo (1978-82), current Legislative Assembly Deputy Jose Merino, and a leader of the Costa Rican Electrical Institute (ICE) union Jorge Arguedas.

The DIS report also named the University of Costa Rica (UCR) Federation of Students president in 2001, Maximiliano Moreira, and a Public Employees Union lawyer Saul Umana. The computer files covered the period between 2000 and last November. Most of the allegedly damning messages were not directed to Costa Ricans but were commentaries about them.

"…(I)t will be seen how it goes with Jose Merino and others that come from the party," ran a text message from Reyes to FARC "chancellor" Rodrigo Granda on Feb. 11, 2002, "So it would be good to seek them (with patience) this way because the position of Carazo has been good toward FARC." (Carazo is one of the founders of the Social Christian Unity party and Merino heads a small minor party called <em>Frente Amplio</em>. This may have been an error of Reyes.)

A 2001 message from FARC official Marcos Urbano to Reyes reported, "We went to the University…to obtain contact and good relations with a group called GenteU that is now in the leadership of the Federation, especially with Maximiliano."

Carazo told <em>La Nacion</em> that he could not remember much about the circumstances of the Reyes message "because it was many years ago." However, he added that he met with many people at his home who "come to talk about things that have to do with peace." (Carazo turned a blind eye in the late 1970s to Sandinista military activity on the northern border in the revolution that overthrew Nicaraguan dictator Anastacio Somoza and has taken a number of positions farther left of his Unity party’s platforms.)

Legislative Assembly Deputy Merino admitted to <em>La Nacion</em>, "As a deputy, I talked with them. But after that time, I’ve never had contact with anyone considered a FARC member." Both Carazo and Merino say they were attempting to promote peace in Colombia.

But ICE union leader Arguedas may have more trouble explaining away this snippet from a communication directed to Granda: "Yesterday we talked with Jorge Arguedas…He promise us economic aid, in part, for the publication of the magazine." (Arguedas was unavailable for comment yesterday.)

Just when it appeared that the lawmakers’ FARC investigation was at a dead end, the DIS report drops a bomb sure to reverberate long and loudly, especially through such leftist organizations as the Public Employees’ Union (ANEP) and ICE’s union. This reporter can remember during the cold war being surprised to find a huge photo of Che Guevara on the wall of ANEP’s inner sanctum. But it is a big difference between that time and now: FARC is not a leftist guerrilla outfit any more but a drug-running machine willing to use hired killers and kidnapping to further its aims. This is not about ideology but about power through terrorist means.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Costa Rica News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.