Print

Mail

wiki links

South American spat escalates

Members of the Venezuelan National Guard secure the border with Colombia at the Tachira River in San Antonio, Venezuela, yesterday. PHOTO: EPA

Venezuela and Ecuador took their growing conflict with Colombia to the diplomatic front, asking other countries to condemn Colombia's deadly assault on a rebel base in Ecuador.

The two countries tightened their borders and were deploying thousands of troops, while Colombia on Tuesday pointed to documents found in a slain rebel leader's laptop that it called proof of stunning links between the leftist guerrillas and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Ecuador rejected a Colombian apology for the cross-border strike as insufficient and sought to rally opposition during an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS), convened in Washington to help defuse one of South America's most volatile crises in years.

Venezuela's justice minister declared that war "has already begun."

At Venezuela's border with Colombia, National Guard troops turned back Colombian cargo trucks under orders from Caracas.

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa began a six-nation tour in Peru and Brazil, calling Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a liar who "wanted war."

Correa warned that if the attack goes unpunished, "the region will be in danger, because the next victim could be Peru, it could be Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia -- any one of our countries."

At the moment, it's mostly a war of words, and other nations have tried to keep it that way, although many said Colombia was wrong to send troops into Ecuador. The raid on Saturday killed 24 guerrillas, including Colombian rebel spokesman Raul Reyes, who was engaged in hostage talks with Venezuela, France and other countries.

US President George W. Bush backed Colombia and accused Chavez of "provocative maneuvers."

Uribe said Chavez should be prosecuted before the International Criminal Court for allegedly financing the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Uribe said documents found in a laptop at the rebel camp showed Venezuela recently made a US$300 million payment to the rebels.

Caracas dismissed the allegations as lies and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said the idea of prosecuting Chavez was "laughable."

Venezuelan Justice Minister Ramon Rodiguez Chacin said the hand of Washington was behind Colombia's actions.

"Our enemy is the empire," Chacin said.

Colombia also accused the rebels of trying to make a radioactive "dirty bomb."

The documents it shared with reporters, however, don't support that allegation, indicating instead that the rebels discussed buying uranium to resell at a profit.

In Brazil, Correa suggested late on Tuesday that the Colombian raid was carried out to prevent the liberation of rebel-held hostages.

He offered no proof, but said he agreed with speculation that Colombia had targeted Reyes "to prevent a deal for the liberation of the hostages from going forward."

The FARC freed four hostages last week and Chavez had pledged to try to win freedom for others including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Tuesday added his voice to the regional condemnation of Colombia's military strike.

"We coincide in the rejection of any action that constitutes a violation of territorial sovereignty," Calderon said after a meeting with Salvadoran President Tony Saca in which the two leaders discussed the crisis.

Nicaragua has also condemned Colombia and former Cuban president Fidel Castro called the incident a "monstrous crime."
This story has been viewed 1169 times.