Files suggest Venezuela-FARC ties

BOGOTA, March 31 (UPI) -- Venezuelan military officials met with leftist rebel leaders from neighboring Colombia to discuss arming the Marxist group, Colombian defense officials alleged.

The Colombian Defense Ministry said computer files belonging to a rebel leader killed by Colombian forces indicate that rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, tried to secure a $250 million loan from the leftist government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to buy arms, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The files also suggest that the FARC was a financial supporter of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa during his presidential bid in 2006, the report said.

Colombia has repeatedly accused Venezuela of supporting the FARC, citing analysis of the recently discovered files.

Colombian forces killed rebel commander Raul Reyes and more than two FARC during a March 1 incursion into Ecuadorian territory.

Colombia's unilateral military action triggered diplomatic tension that included both Ecuador and Venezuela temporarily severing relations with Colombia and dispatching troops to their borders with Colombia.