BY TYLER BRIDGES AND GERARDO REYES

The computer files found with slain FARC leader Rául Reyes continued to reverberate in Colombia on Thursday with the announcement by prosecutors that they will investigate whether 12 people -- including three Colombian lawmakers and a retired American consultant -- had unauthorized contacts with the guerrilla group.

At least some of those now under investigation -- including Colombian Sen. Piedad Córdoba and American consultant James Jones -- have tried to get the FARC to release hostages they have kidnapped.

Others have served as mediators for peace talks with the FARC, the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Colombia.

Prosecutors will try to determine whether the Reyes computer files show that the 12 went beyond instructions given by the Colombian government or during periods when they didn't have government authorization to engage the FARC, said Adam Isacson, a Washington, D.C.-based analyst with the Center for International Policy.

ILLEGAL

Contacts with the FARC are illegal unless the government authorizes it.

''If they are investigating unauthorized contacts with armed groups, they are all guilty,'' Isacson said. ``But this is a law that Colombia has never enforced before. Are they being accused of offering aid or support? That would be hard to prove.''

EXPLAINING ROLE

Jones said in an interview that he hadn't committed any crimes. He said he worked to free the hostages.

''The FARC have three of my countrymen, there's Ingrid Betancourt, and there are Colombians,'' said Jones, a former university professor and United Nations official. ``My role was to help the FARC to understand the political situation in the United States.''

The three Americans were military contractors, and Betancourt was kidnapped while running for president in 2002.

Jones declined to say who financed his trips to meet with the FARC in Colombia and whether he advised any foreign governments on what he was told.

Colombian forces found Reyes and killed him in a March 1 bombardment in a jungle hide-out just inside the Ecuadorean border. They found a treasure trove of documents contained on laptops, computer disks and memory sticks.

COOL RELATIONS

The killing sparked a diplomatic crisis with Ecuador and Venezuela, and ties have remained frosty between Colombia and its neighbors thanks to steady leaks of the contents of the Reyes e-mails showing, according to the Colombian government, secret ties between the FARC and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.

Interpol reported last week that the computer files held by the Colombian government were authentic. Chávez and Correa have continued to say the files are fakes.

Jaime Zuluaga, a professor at Bogotá's National University, said by telephone the Reyes files will produce more news.

''The Reyes computers continue having a political impact and will continue doing so for some time,'' Zuluaga said. ``There are millions of pages according to Interpol.''

Córdoba is the best known of those now under investigation.

An ardent foe of conservative President Alvaro Uribe, the leftist Córdoba worked with Chávez to help win freedom for six Colombian hostages this year held by the FARC.

Córdoba told The Miami Herald in March that she opposed kidnapping by the FARC and said her only goal was freeing the hostages.

Others now under investigation in Colombia include a member of Ecuador's Constitutional Assembly, María Augusta Calle, another Ecuadorean national identified as Iván Larrea and Amílcar Figueroa, a Venezuelan national who is a member of the Latin American Parliament.

Among the Colombians being investigated is Alvaro Leyva, a former minister and presidential candidate who served as a broker between the FARC and the government.

Miami Herald staff reporter Tyler Bridges reported from Caracas while El Nuevo Herald staff reporter Gerardo Reyes reported from Miami.