Chavez reviews Colombia ties after Interpol report

By Patrick Markey

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday warned he was reviewing ties and commerce with Colombia after an Interpol report authenticated rebel documents that Bogota says prove the leftist has supported guerrillas.

Accusations based on the files are reheating tensions after a March diplomatic crisis in the Andean region, where Colombia has become Washington's staunchest ally and Venezuela and Ecuador are among the fiercest critics of U.S. policies.

Colombia, which along with the United States labels the FARC terrorists, seized the laptops in a March raid on a rebel camp inside Ecuador that killed a guerrilla leader and briefly raised fears of border clashes among the three neighbours.

International police agency Interpol said earlier on Thursday the FARC documents were real and showed no tampering, but also said it could not verify the contents. Chavez dismisses Bogota's charges as U.S.-backed propaganda.

"They keep on assaulting us and this shameful show today was a new act of aggression," Chavez told a news conference in Caracas after the Interpol announcement in Colombia.

The self-styled socialist said Venezuela did not need Colombian imports though the Andean neighbour is one its largest trading partners and accounts for much of its food imports.

The international police agency's conclusion reinforced Colombian and U.S. charges the files show Venezuela has backed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

But Interpol's acknowledgment that it did not verify the files' contents leaves open to debate whether they tie Chavez to Latin America's oldest insurgency.