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Correa calls for stronger censure

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, left, and Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa hold a press conference in Caracas on Wednesday. PHOTO: AFP

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa on Wednesday urged the international community to issue a "clear condemnation" of Colombia for its cross-border military incursion into Ecuadoran territory.

Correa stood side by side with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who earlier on Wednesday sent 10 army battalions close to the Colombian border, as diplomats struggled to defuse the crisis.

"Ecuador will not rest until the international community issues a clear condemnation of Colombia as an aggressor," said Correa, who was on a tour of Latin America to drum up support for his cause.

The joint appearance came after the 34-member Organization of American States (OAS) unanimously adopted a text saying Colombia had violated Ecuador's sovereignty, but stopped short of formally condemning the action.

Correa welcomed the resolution as an "important first step" and applauded the Washington-based body's decision to send a committee to investigate the matter -- but he demanded more.

"If Ecuador doesn't get satisfaction, we'll know how to exact it with our own methods and the OAS and the international community, by their silence and omissions, will be the guilty ones," Correa said.

He did not elaborate, although earlier on Wednesday he had warned that Ecuador would "go to the ultimate consequences."

"We're using up all diplomatic channels, all the peaceful and international channels to resolve this conflict because we will not allow the attacker of our sovereignty to go unpunished," Correa said.

"Ecuador can count on our unconditional support in any circumstance," Chavez said in the joint press conference.

Colombia's attack on Saturday on a camp of Colombian leftist rebels located just inside Ecuador killed the group's No. 2 and led to a diplomatic crisis between Colombia and two of its neighbors.

Bogota said after seizing rebel laptops in the raid that Ecuador and Venezuela had been providing support to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who have been fighting the Colombian government for four decades.

Both Quito and Caracas strenuously denied the claims, expelled Colombia's ambassadors and cut off diplomatic ties.

Ecuador and Venezuela moved troops to their respective borders with Colombia, which in turn received verbal support from its war-on-drugs ally the US.

Venezuelan military officials confirmed that 10 army battalions -- around 6,000 men -- had been sent to the Colombian frontier and were 90 percent in place.

Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos, speaking in Brussels, said his country would not "cede to provocation."

"We are not going to send any force to the border beyond those that are already there," he said.

Despite the escalation, the White House said on Wednesday it was "a little bit premature" to consider US military aid to Colombia.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has called for Chavez to be tried by the International Criminal Court for allegedly paying US$300 million to FARC, on the basis of documents he said were in a laptop recovered from the camp.

In Washington, a top US diplomat said that experts would soon examine the computer's hard drive for authenticity.

"This is the first time that we've stumbled across something coming from the FARC drawing such a straight line" between the rebels and Chavez, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said.

Other documents released by Colombia suggest Reyes was secretly negotiating with representatives of France to win freedom for hostages including politician Ingrid Betancourt.

Chavez said late on Wednesday that despite the row with Colombia, he would continue working for the release of more FARC hostages.

"We'll continue to work for a humanitarian agreement," Chavez said.
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