Ecuador still riled over Colombian raid

A man wearing a mask protests in front of Colombia's embassy in Mexico City on Wednesday. University students demanded that Mexico's government formally condemn Colombia's March 1 attack on a rebel camp in Ecuador. PHOTO: AP

Ecuador is still angry over a Colombian raid into its territory and will not restore diplomatic relations with its neighbor until at least the end of this month, the government announced on Thursday.

"This is going to take some time, I don't believe it can happen before the end of the month," Foreign Minister Maria Isabel Salvador said on the Teleamazonas television network.

In a heated speech, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa also kept up the pressure on Colombia, reiterating previous accusations that Ecuador's Andean neighbor violated its sovereignty with a March 1 cross-border raid that killed 25 people, including a top guerrilla leader from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

"Let it be clear to the whole world that Ecuador is not the cause of this tragedy, Colombia is," Correa told hundreds of students gathered in front of the Presidential Palace.

He also rejected criticism that his country does not do enough to keep Colombian rebels from taking up refuge in its territory, saying, "Ecuador is the victim of this civil war, not an accomplice," he said.

In Washington, "they say we help the FARC. Let them come and put American troops on Colombia's southern border," Correa said. "Let them suffer deaths and bloodshed, and we'll see if they keep talking."

Correa also suggested that Spain, where a leading newspaper published an article calling northern Ecuador a "FARC sanctuary," send soldiers.

"I invite Spain, home of this El Pais newspaper, to come and put troops on the border. They have no idea how grateful we would be," he said.

The US government has strongly backed its close South American ally Colombia in the diplomatic crisis, which saw Ecuador and Venezuela sever or severely curtail their relations with Bogota and send troops to their borders with Colombia.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced on Sunday he would restore full ties to Bogota, after the three nations' leaders hammered out a deal to end the crisis at a summit of Latin American leaders.

But tensions remain between Ecuador and Colombia. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's government has released a series of documents allegedly found on the slain rebel's laptop that it says link Correa's administration to the FARC.

Uribe has said he did not inform Ecuador of the raid in advance because he did not trust officials there to act against the rebel camp. He said at the summit that documents found on the rebel chief's computer spoke of a FARC campaign contribution to Correa as well as collaboration with his government.

Ecuadoran Defense Minister Wellington Sandoval rejected those allegations on Thursday, accusing Colombia of launching a media offensive to discredit Ecuador's government.

Sandoval also threatened "pertinent legal action" against El Pais for its article, in which it quoted Colombian military sources alleging that the FARC and Correa's government have collaborated, and that the rebels are allowed to operate at least eight stable camps in northern Ecuador.

Sandoval called those charges "falsehoods."

He said that if Bogota had information about purported links and guerrilla strongholds, it should have used normal diplomatic channels to coordinate action.