CARACAS, Venezuela — High-ranking officials in Venezuela offered to help Colombian guerrillas obtain surface- to-air missiles meant to change the balance of power in their war with the Colombian government, according to internal rebel documents.
Venezuelan officials served as middlemen with Australian arms dealers and agreed to help the rebel commanders travel to the Middle East to receive missile training, according to files on computer hard drives seized by Colombian authorities and shown to The Washington Post.
In interviews, Colombian officials said they have no evidence that the guerrillas obtained the antiaircraft missiles, but added that Venezuelan authorities appear to have provided light arms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
The hard drives were confiscated in an army raid on a rebel camp March 1. Today, Interpol is expected to announce that there is no evidence that anyone tampered with the hard drives after they were seized.
