BOGOTA -- Colombian authorities say the data found on 15 computers, 94 USB devices and 14 hard disks at the camp of slain FARC military chief "Mono Jojoy" is many times more valuable and revelatory than that discovered after a 2008 cross-border airstrike into Ecuador that killed another top rebel commander.
| Whee! Lots of fun for the forensic programming johnnies! I wonder how many of the contacts they find will be with local representatives of Hizb'allah or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard? And how many with the eight whose homes in Minneapolis and Chicago were searched on Friday by the FBI anti-terrorism division... |
That assessment appeared in an article published Saturday by Bogota daily El Tiempo, which added that the Dijin investigative police force's forensic informatics division was charged with evaluating the computer data.
| Guys, I'm sure the FBI or Mossad will be happy to lend you some of their spare people, should you want some extra pairs of hands. |
The analysis has concluded thus far that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrilla group restricts its use of mobile phones and other electronic devices to the minimum for fear its communications will be intercepted. Instead, they rely on couriers to carry USB memory sticks from one camp to another.
| Next they'll want to restrict footgear, although going barefoot has its own peculiar risks when trotting down jungle trails. |
The investigators note, for example, that no cellular or satellite phones were found at the camp in south-central Colombia where Victor Julio Suarez Rojas, better known by the aliases Jorge Briceño or "Mono Jojoy," was killed in an airstrike Wednesday along with a score of other guerrillas.
Among other things, the investigation has shown that the computers found at the camp were 2009 and 2010 models, one of which apparently was used exclusively by the FARC military leader. That computer's screen was damaged but the hard disk drive was practically intact and authorities were able to gain access to the data.
Authorities expect to find, in addition to e-mails, videos and recent plans for kidnappings and attacks on towns and security forces.
In March 2008, following a cross-border attack that killed Luis Edgar Devia, better known as Raul Reyes, in Ecuador, authorities recovered a computer and some USB devices of the FARC's No. 2 and international spokesman. But authorities believe the data from Mono Jojoy's camp is more important because the military chief handled more of the rebels' internal information, and that this blow to the FARC therefore leaves the group even more vulnerable than it was after Reyes' death.
The FARC, which has fought a decades-old struggle against a succession of Colombian governments but has seen its numbers fall by more than half in recent years to roughly 8,000 fighters, had suffered a series of setbacks prior to the strike against Mono Jojoy.
BOGOTA -- Colombian army troops killed the leader of the 45th Front of the FARC in a gun battle in Arauca province, which borders on Venezuela, officials said Saturday.
The commander of the 18th Army Brigade, Gen. Rafael Alberto Neira Wiesner, told reporters that the death of alias "Hugo Hernandez" will come as a relief for inhabitants of the Tame area, who have been at the mercy of this individual who constantly collected extortion money from them."
The guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was surprised, together with other rebels, as he was collecting an extortion payment. When he saw he had been discovered, a battle broke out that ended with the death of the guerrilla who coordinated extortions for the FARC's 38th, 45th and 56th Fronts.
| Not nearly as creative as the Rab encounter reports, but one can imagine how it must have been. |
Hugo Hernandez, 35, had been with the FARC for 17 years, and was accused of attacking several towns in the province of Cundinamarca, where the nation's capital Bogota is located, as well as carrying out assaults on Tame and Saravena, two of the main cities in Arauca province.
| Wanted on twelve systems, even his mother didn't love him... and can you blame her, a badman miscreant like that? |
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