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Latin American leaders set for summit showdown

A showdown loomed yesterday for the presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela as a summit of Latin American leaders aimed to calm a crisis triggered by a Colombian cross-border raid.

The leftist presidents of Venezuela and Ecuador kept the pressure on Colombia as they arrived in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo late on Thursday. The Rio Group summit was to have focused on energy and other issues, but the diplomatic crisis in the Andes now has center stage.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told reporters he wants Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to apologize for last Saturday's military attack against leftist Colombian rebels in Ecuadorean territory, as well as his "formal and firm commitment" that Colombia will never "violate" the sovereignty of another country.

On his arrival in Santo Domingo, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took jibes at Colombia and the US, which has supported Bogota with more than US$4 billion in counterinsurgency and anti-drug aid since 2000.

"The US empire has taken over Colombia," Chavez said.

Chavez claimed the strike that killed Raul Reyes, a top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was "planned and directed by the United States." Later, he said he had information that "gringo soldiers" participated in the attack, but provided no evidence to back the claim.

Earlier this week a spokesman for the US Southern Command, Jose Ruiz, would neither confirm or deny the US military took part in the attack that killed Reyes.

Chavez has ordered thousands of troops to Venezuela's border with Colombia and threatened to slash trade and nationalize Colombian-owned businesses. Ecuador has also sent troops to the border.

Yesterday's opening of the presidential summit was to mark the first face-to-face encounters between Uribe, Chavez and Correa since the international crisis began.

The crisis widened on Thursday when Nicaragua broke off relations with Colombia over the attack inside Ecuador. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who was also expected to attend the summit.

In Ecuador, Security Minister Gustavo Larrea said the army captured five suspected FARC rebels on Thursday. The suspects were nabbed "a few meters from the Colombian border," in the general area where the raid took place, Larrea said.

Also See: Colombians rally against violence by paramilitaries
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