BOGOTA – A cyber-spy seeking to undermine Colombia’s peace talks intercepted emails from President Juan Manuel Santos and leftist rebels, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Colombian top prosecutor Luis Eduardo Montealegre told said an unnamed “engineer” tried to “interfere with the peace process” and had acted against “national security.”
“There is evidence as well that in this unit, presidential emails were intercepted,” Montealegre added. The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, will be charged with espionage, Montealegre said.
In February, authorities broke up another illegal apparently military intelligence electronic spying unit. It targeted government negotiators and journalists covering the peace process, and led to a number of firings.
Santos has made his quest for an end to Colombia’s 50-year-old insurgency a central tenet of his presidency. He is seeking reelection May 25.
The Marxist-inspired FARC is Latin America’s largest and longest-fighting insurgency.