BARRANQUILLA, Colombia — Everywhere you go in this country, the mere mention of her name evokes angry reactions. Cursing is people's preferred method to describe how they feel about Colombian leftist Senator Piedad Cordoba. And it's all justified!

Imagine how we Americans would feel if a U.S. senator went around saying that the world needs more people like Osama bin Laden and telling other al-Qaida terrorists — in uncovered secret e-mails — that she sympathizes with their cause. Imagine those e-mails professing admiration for our enemies. And what if we intercepted e-mails between terrorists in which they describe this senator as an ally and a possible interim president once the terrorists overthrow the U.S. government?

It would be shocking, outrageous and disgraceful, right?

Yet that is precisely what Cordoba has done in a country that has suffered more than 40 years of bloodshed by the band of drug-trafficking leftist terrorists, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC.

She praises the sacrifice of recently deceased FARC leader Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda. She describes Venezuela's Socialist President Hugo Chavez, considered Colombia's worst foreign enemy, as her "commander," as someone who has been sent from heaven to save Latin America, and as the person who has restored her faith in Christianity. She calls herself a devout Chavista.

Most Colombians can't decide which is more repulsive: her worship of Chavez or her glorification of guerrillas who left thousands of Colombians dead, orphaned or mutilated.

"In a society where the immense majority sees Sureshot as the incarnation of evil and President (Alvaro) Uribe as a messiah … Cordoba has done what no one dares to do in this country: praise the most hated Colombian and insult the most popular," noted Semana, a prominent Colombian news magazine.

For a few months last year, Cordoba was authorized by the Colombian government to join Chavez in negotiating the release of hostages held by the FARC in jungle concentration camps. They managed to get six hostages released. But once the government called off the negotiations — because the rebels wanted their own chunk of Colombia in exchange for more hostages — it became clear that Cordoba had not been acting as an impartial "humanitarian facilitator," but as an enemy within the Colombian government.

In the past year, Colombians have seen Cordoba in Mexico calling on all Latin American countries to break diplomatic and trade relations with her own country, lobbying in Washington against the U.S. free trade agreement with Colombia, clapping in Nicaragua as Chavez attacked the Colombian government, and criticizing Uribe in Spain.

But it was the e-mails found in the computer of a rebel leader killed by the Colombian army that exposed Cordoba as a FARC conspirator. That computer, belonging to Raul Reyes, the FARC's second-ranking commander, was seized by Colombian authorities after a March 1 cross-border bombing raid on Reyes' camp in Ecuador. The same laptop that contained evidence implicating Chavez and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa as supporters of Colombian terrorists also contained evidence that shows Cordoba was working against her government.

Chavez, Correa and Cordoba deny the accusations, noting that their only contact with the FARC was in trying to secure the release of hostages. But there are few people in Colombia who believe them, especially because an independent Interpol investigation found that no one had tampered with the rebel leader's computer files.

Because the FARC is classified as a terrorist organization by both the Colombian and U.S. governments, contact with these guerrillas can be considered a crime. But because Cordoba was designated by the Uribe government to negotiate with the rebels, prosecuting her might be difficult.

Nevertheless, she is clearly the most hated woman in Colombia, especially because she went as far as to make recommendations on which hostages should not be released because they are too valuable to the FARC and their cause.

Among more than 900 e-mails sent by rebel leaders mentioning Cordoba's name, there is one in particular that makes Colombians very angry. In it, one rebel relays a message from Cordoba about the FARC's most prominent hostage, Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian former presidential candidate, who was abducted six years ago. He reported that Cordoba told him "that Ingrid is skinny, but she has always been skinny, and she is not going to die from it. And she believes some hostages need to be released to Chavez at the border (with Venezuela), but not Ingrid."

In another e-mail, using the code name of Teodora de Bolivar, Cordoba encouraged the guerrillas to support Chavez in his failed effort to change the Venezuelan Constitution in a December referendum that would have given Chavez the power of a dictator.

Instead of acting as a government negotiator, Colombians say Cordoba clearly has "crossed the line" and conspired with the enemy. Many are now calling for her to be charged with anything from treason to inciting rebellion and terrorism.

Because more than 30 former Colombian legislators and Uribe allies are in jail for colluding with right-wing paramilitary militias, many Colombians believe that leftists who conspire with the FARC should also be in prison.

Last month, Colombia's chief prosecutor — citing the e-mails from Reyes' computer — called on the Colombian Supreme Court to investigate the FARC's ties with Cordoba and two other legislators. Under Colombian law, only the Supreme Court can bring charges against sitting legislators.

"One thing is freedom of expression, and another thing is to wipe the floor with the Colombian flag," charged Colombian legislator Roy Barreras. He also called on the country's highest court to stop Cordoba from working against Colombia's best interests.

Even former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, the leader of Cordoba's Liberal Party, had to distance the party from her outrageous remarks and scandalous e-mails. "That attitude is harmful to democracy and liberalism," Gaviria told reporters.

Looking at photos and videos of the beret-wearing senator as she hugs and kisses the rebels makes many Colombians believe that instead of a public servant, Cordoba is public enemy No. 1. Her support of terrorism is no longer in disguise.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.