No emails found on computers of ‘Raul Reyes’: IG

Colombia’s Inspector General on Sunday confirmed that no emails, only Word documents, were found on the computers of slain FARC commander “Raul Reyes.”

In an interview with weekly Semana, Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez confirmed claims made by the investigating police inspector that despite earlier claims by the government, there are no e-mails on the computers.

The statement contradicts numerous allegations of the government of former President Alvaro Uribe and media reports that mentioned emails between the country’s largest rebel group and politicians like the recently dismissed Senator Piedad Cordoba.

“I must say that in the records there are no email files, only Word documents,” Ordoñez told the weekly.

With his statement, the Inspector General confirms testimony by police inspector Ronald Coy Cortiz, who in 2008 testified before court that his team of investigators “haven’t seen any e-mails, I haven’t found them so far. They found a large number of e-mail addresses, but Reyes kept these in a Word document and other Microsoft documents.”

Colombia’s Supreme Court earlier absolved Piedad Cordoba and other suspects of “FARC-politics” after dismissing evidence coming from the Reyes computers, allegedly found after the bombing of Reyes’ Ecuadorean camp that killed the FARC’s “foreign minister” and more than 20 others.

According to Ordoñez, additional evidence outside of the Reyes files provides enough proof that the dissident senator “collaborated with the FARC,” which was the reason to dismiss her and bar her from holding public office for 18 years.