COLOMBIA-ECUADOR:
OAS Rejects Military
Incursion
By Constanza Vieira*
BOGOTA, (IPS) - After 14
hours of deliberation,
the foreign ministers of
the members of the
Organisation of American
States (OAS) announced
Tuesday that they
"reject" Colombia’s
recent cross-border
incursion into Ecuador,
which was carried out
"without the knowledge
or prior consent of the
government" of that
country.
The United States,
however, refused to
approve that point.
In a report prepared by
an OAS commission that
investigated the Mar. 1
bombing raid by Colombia
on a FARC (Revolutionary
Armed Forces of
Colombia) guerrilla camp
within Ecuadorian
territory, the Colombian
government modified its
own initial version of
how the attack was
carried out.
Colombia was pleased
that the OAS resolution
did not include the much
stronger term "condemn,"
and that it did not
consider sanctions. The
term "reject" is stated
in the fourth paragraph,
while the third
paragraph "reaffirm(s)
the full applicability
of the principle of
territorial
sovereignty".
The United States
supported the resolution
with reservations,
arguing that Colombia
has the right to act in
self-defence as
established by Article
22 of the OAS charter,
which was approved in
1948.
But paragraph four
states that Colombia
violated Articles 19 and
21 of the OAS charter.
Article 19 establishes
that "No state or group
of states has the right
to intervene, directly
or indirectly, for any
reason whatever, in the
internal or external
affairs of any other
state", while article 21
says that "The territory
of a state is
inviolable; it may not
be the object, even
temporarily, of military
occupation or of other
measures of force taken
by another state,
directly or indirectly,
on any grounds
whatever."
The first paragraph of
the resolution approved
Tuesday says that
"abstention from the
threat or use of force,
and non-interference in
the internal affairs of
other states" are
"principles that are
binding on all (OAS)
member states in all
circumstances."
The OAS once again
avoided describing the
FARC as a "terrorist"
force, as it is
classified by Colombia,
the United States and
the European Union.
The resolution also took
into account Colombia’s
request "To reiterate
the firm commitment of
all member states to
combat threats to
security caused by the
actions of irregular
groups or criminal
organisations,
especially those
associated with drug
trafficking," and to
create a mechanism for
monitoring compliance
with this resolution.
After meeting all night
in Washington, the
ministers finally
reached an agreement on
the resolution at 5:00
AM GMT.
The Colombian bombing of
the FARC camp in
Ecuador, which killed
the rebel group’s
international spokesman,
Raúl Reyes, led to the
rupture of diplomatic
ties with Colombia by
Ecuador.
The OAS resolution also
"welcomed" the
declaration adopted by
the heads of state and
government of the Rio
Group, Latin America's
highest-level political
forum, at its Mar. 7
summit in the Dominican
Republic, underlining
"its contribution to the
easing of tensions and
to rapprochement between
the parties, based on
the principle of
international law."
After a heated debate in
the summit in Santo
Domingo, handshakes and
hugs put an end to the
tension between
Presidents Álvaro Uribe
of Colombia, on one
hand, and Hugo Chávez of
Venezuela, Daniel Ortega
of Nicaragua and Rafael
Correa of Ecuador on the
other.
COLOMBIA’S NEW VERSION
The foreign ministers
also received the report
by the OAS fact-finding
commission that visited
the site of the attack
and other spots in
Ecuador as well as
Colombia from Mar. 9-12,
headed up by Secretary
General José Miguel
Insulza, in compliance
with a resolution
adopted by the OAS
Permanent Council on
Mar. 5.
In the report, the
description of events
that the Uribe
administration gave the
OAS delegation differs
from what was described
in the government’s
initial public
statements.
The report presented by
the delegation says
Colombian authorities
had initially planned to
attack a camp in
Colombia, where Reyes
was supposed to be found
on Feb. 29.
But late that night, the
Colombian military
received information
that Reyes was actually
across the border in
Ecuador, which led them
to the decision to carry
out a "double"
operation, with attacks
on both camps, using
"different planes," as
Uribe administration
officials told the OAS
commission.
Immediately after the
raid, however, Colombian
Defence Minister Juan
Manuel Santos had stated
that the military had
originally planned to
bomb a location in
Colombia, close to the
border, at 12:25 AM, but
that as the troops being
transported by
helicopter were
approaching the place,
to occupy it, they were
attacked from across the
Ecuadorian border.
The communiqué read out
by Santos added that
after a soldier, Carlos
Hernández,
"unfortunately died in
the attack by the
guerrillas," the camp
from which the rebels
opened fire was located,
1,800 metres inside
Ecuador, and was bombed
from Colombian
territory, without
violating Ecuadorian
airspace.
But the Colombian
government told the OAS
that Hernández died in
Ecuador and that his
body was transported to
Colombia from that
country along with the
bodies of Reyes and
another guerrilla, who
has not yet been
identified.
Colombian journalist
Ignacio Gómez told the
Noticias Uno TV news
station on Sunday that
Hernández was killed
when a tree left just
barely standing after
the camp was bombed from
the air fell on him.
Ecuadorian President
Correa expressed to the
OAS his doubts on
whether international
humanitarian law was
respected, since several
bodies had "bullet
wounds in their back,
fired from a short
distance," indicating
that they had been the
victims of extrajudicial
execution. The people in
the camp were sleeping
at the time of the
bombing raid.
Ecuador also called for
clarification of "how
long the incursion by
the Colombian military
forces in Ecuadorian
territory lasted."
According to the
technical report that
the Ecuadorian military
presented to the OAS,
"six 500-pound GBU-12
bombs were dropped by
planes flying in a South
to North direction, and
four bombs were dropped
by planes moving in a
North to South
direction…within
Ecuadorian airspace."
The Correa
administration also
maintains that the bombs
used require advanced
technology that the
Colombian air force does
not have.
The GBU-12 (Guided Bomb
Unit) is an antitank
laser-guided
air-to-ground missile
that has no propulsion
system of its own, which
means the pilot must be
relatively close to the
target in order for the
laser guidance system to
operate.
Colombia, however,
claimed that the bombs
used were "conventional"
and roundly denied that
its planes had overflown
Ecuadorian territory.
According to the
Colombian government,
the bombs were launched
by A-37 planes and
guided by satellite by
means of the Global
Positioning System
(GPS).
But when Bogotá notified
Quito of the attack, it
provided inaccurate
coordinates, according
to the Correa
administration, which is
why the first Ecuadorian
military contingent took
longer than expected to
reach the site of the
bombing, arriving at
1:00 PM that day (the
raid occurred in the
early morning hours).
*With additional
reporting by Humberto
Márquez in Caracas. |
