The strange case of Hugo Chavez and a rebel laptop

The cover of the Peruvian magazine Caretas features a photo-montage of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with a portable computer covering his private parts. The headline: "Laptop left him naked.''

That would be the purported rebel laptop found during this month's Colombian military strike on a rebel encampment in neighboring Ecuador. Among the alleged revelations: That Chavez financed the guerrillas to the tune of $300 million -- an allegation denied by Chavez.

The Caretas account reproduces a purported email from Raul Reyes, nom de guerre of the top guerrilla leader slain in the raid. He allegedly wrote dismissively of Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian hostage and ex-presidential candidate said to be near death after six years in captivity. Her case has generated sympathy worldwide, especially in France, and revulsion against the rebels, known as the FARC.

"As far as I know,'' Reyes, the high-ranking rebel, allegedly wrote, "this woman, of volcanic temperament, is rude and provocative with the guerrillas charged with caring for her.''  He even suggests her haggard appearance in press photographs may be designed to sully the rebels' international image. In the purported email, Reyes said he would inform the French "emissary'' of what he labeled the hostage's unacceptable comportment.

Writes Caretas: "This is the way with the guerrillas sponsored by Hugo Chavez: Punish with ferocity human beings denied liberty for interminable years and manipulate the international community interested in contributing to the end of this hell."

The Colombian radio network RCN has broadcast other purported Chavez-rebel scoops: It reports the irony that it was allegedly an intercepted call from Chavez to Reyes'  satellite telephone that helped Colombian officials zero in on the insurgent base. Chavez denies the link. And the network aired the allegation that the aging and ailing rebel commander, Manuel Marulanda, known as Tirofijo ("Sure shot'') lives under Chavez'  protection in a Venezuelan estate.

— Patrick J. McDonnell and Andres D'Alessandro in Buenos Aires and Chris Kraul in Bogota.

Photo: Hostage Ingrid Betancourt in captivity. Credit: AP, Colombian presidency.