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CARACAS/BOGOTA: Regional tensions increased Sunday as
Venezuela and Ecuador boosted military deployment on their Colombian
borders, following Colombia’s anti-rebel action along its border
with Ecuador.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
said Sunday he was immediately sending troops, tanks and fighter
aircraft to the Colombian frontier. “We don’t want a war, but we
are not going to allow them to violate our territorial
sovereignty,” he said during his weekly TV and radio program
Chavez said Ecuador was also moving troops to its northern border
(with Colombia), adding that his Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael
Correa could “count on Venezuela for whatever it needs, in any
situation.” Chavez also ordered the closure of the Venezuelan
embassy in the Colombian capital Bogota.
Chavez’s remarks came after the
Colombian military killed Raul Reyes, second-in-command of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s
largest anti-government group, in an attack on a jungle camp across
the Colombia-Ecuador border on Saturday. Ecuador has recalled its
ambassador to Bogota, calling the raid a violation of its
territorial sovereignty while warning that the Colombian action may
result in “ultimate consequences.”
It could be the start of a South
American war, warned Chavez, who has been engaged in a dispute with
his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe, sparked by the FARC hostage
issue. Chavez had been trying to mediate between FARC and the
Colombian government for the release of hundreds of hostages.
However, Uribe abruptly called a
halt to Chavez’s mediatory role last November, alleging that the
Venezuelan president had spoken directly with a Colombian general
about the hostage issue, in violation of their agreement. Chavez
responded by putting bilateral ties “in the freezer” and
withdrew the Venezuelan ambassador from Bogota, saying Colombia
deserved a better president. Despite his war of words with Uribe,
Chavez has this year helped facilitate the unilateral release of six
high-profile hostages by FARC.
Ecuador recalls ambassador
Ecuador has decided to withdraw
its ambassador from northern neighbor Colombia in protest against
“a transgression of the principles of sovereignty and territorial
integrity” by the Colombian army and warned that the move would
result in “ultimate consequences.”
According to Ecuador, Reyes was
killed in Angostura, a region in the northern Ecuadorian province of
Sucumbios. The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister has lodged a formal
protest with Bogota. Correa said on television late Sunday that he
had ordered the expulsion of the Colombian ambassador to Quito and
had ordered troops to the border area.
Shortly after Correa’s order,
the Colombian government accused Correa of having ties with FARC.
“In the belongings of Raul Reyes found by the police and the
Colombian forces were three computers ... in the next few minutes
Police Commander General Oscar Naranjo will show document found in
those computers which show evidence that the president of Ecuador,
President Correa, has relations with the FARC,” a Colombian
presidential spokesman told reporters.
In a statement issued earlier the
same day, Correa, who had canceled a visit to Cuba to deal with the
situation at home, denounced Colombia’s move as “the worst
aggression suffered by Ecuador.” But Ecuador’s Deputy Foreign
Minister Jose Valencia told local media that the measure does not
imply the end of Ecuador-Colombia ties because trade links remain,
and that bilateral relations could return to normal if the
clarification of the circumstances satisfies Ecuador.
-Xinhua
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