Ecuador president asks rebels to confirm donation
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090723/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_ecuador_rebel_video QUITO, Ecuador – President Rafael Correa made a direct plea Thursday to leaders of Colombia' main leftist rebel army to confirm whether they contributed to his 2006 election campaign.
He also asked the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to confirm the authenticity of a newly disclosed video that appears to prove the rebels made contributions.
Correa had previously called the video "a sham" meant to discredit South America's left.
But he has now joined other government officials in suggesting someone may have solicited money from the FARC fraudulently claiming to represent his campaign.
Colombian officials dispute such a formulation, pointing to a half-dozen documents found on FARC computers more than a year ago in which guerrilla leaders discuss contributions.
They consider the video, whose existence was revealed by The Associated Press last week, to be definitive proof.
"A rooster doesn't crow any clearer," said Juan Manuel Santos, who stepped down as Colombia's defense minister in May to run for president.
The video shows the rebels' No. 2 commander, Jorge Briceno, reading from the deathbed manifesto of the rebels' founding leader, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda. At one point, he discusses "assistance in dollars to Correa's campaign."
The footage was given to the AP by a Colombian government official on condition of anonymity because of the video's political sensitivity.
It was found in a computer in the possession of an alleged rebel operative arrested in Bogota on May 30 and was decrypted on July 10, officials said.
Because of the FARC's clandestine nature, it frequently takes days if not weeks for the insurgency to issue communiques on important matters.