Bogota: New documents published by a news magazine from a slain rebel's computer show top guerrillas discussed how much money to give the 2006 election campaign of Ecuador's president.

The documents published yesterday, whose authenticity was confirmed by two senior Colombian officials, also include a 2000 letter to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi asking for a $100 million loan so the rebels could buy weapons including surface-to-air missiles.

The documents describe, additionally, rebel ties to drug traffickers, meetings with senior Venezuelan police officials and an apparent effort by US Democrats to employ the Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez in negotiations with the insurgents - possibly in league with former US President Bill Clinton.

The 15 documents, published by Semana magazine, 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 yesterday in Quito, where he met with Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organisation 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 today.

Colombia's police chief released a first set of documents from the laptop three days after the March 1 cross-border raid into Ecuador that killed Raul Reyes, the public face of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Source : PTI