ECUADOR-COLOMBIA:
No Ready Solution in
Sight
By Kintto Lucas
QUITO (IPS) - The
diplomatic row between
Ecuador and Colombia
that was triggered by
the Mar. 1 Colombian
bombing raid of a FARC
rebel camp in Ecuadorean
territory unleashed a
flurry of mutual
accusations and cast a
pall of uncertainty over
the future relations
between the neighbouring
countries.
Ecuadorean President
Rafael Correa told IPS
Friday that his
government does not want
to "deepen the conflict"
with Colombia, but that
it cannot keep silent in
the face of the constant
verbal attacks from
Colombia’s right-wing
President Álvaro Uribe.
Correa asked
Organisation of American
States (OAS) Secretary
General José Miguel
Insulza, in their
meeting Friday in Quito,
to take a hand in the
matter, in order to get
the Colombian government
to cease its verbal
aggression against
Ecuador.
It will be difficult to
re-establish diplomatic
ties -- which Ecuador
broke off after the
Colombian military
bombed the FARC
(Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia) camp
within Ecuadorean
territory -- as long as
"Bogotá’s lies,
maliciousness and media
campaign continue," the
president added.
With respect to the
Colombian government’s
claims that Correa had
ordered Ecuador’s armed
forces not to pursue the
FARC within the national
territory, the president
said he would reveal
"certain confidential
recordings of COSENA
(National Security
Council) meetings
dealing with the defence
of our national
territory."
He said the COSENA
meetings in question, in
which the members of the
Council talk about
pursuing any armed
Colombian forces who
enter Ecuador, clearly
refute the Uribe
administration’s "libel
and slander."
"How can it be that Mr.
Uribe commits himself to
something in the OAS and
the Rio Group, and later
says he does not regret
the attack?" said
Correa.
He was referring to
meetings held by the two
regional bodies shortly
after the Mar. 1 attack
that killed FARC’s
international spokesman
Raúl Reyes and two dozen
other people.
Both the OAS and Rio
Group -- a regional
mechanism of political
consultation and
coordination -- adopted
resolutions rejecting
the Mar. 1 bombing raid
and urging Colombia to
respect the principles
of national sovereignty
and territorial
integrity, which Bogotá
promised to do.
But in later statements,
Colombian Defence
Minister Juan Manuel
Santos made it clear
that his country would
not hesitate to do the
same thing over again in
similar circumstances.
Authorities in Colombia
have accused Quito of
links to the FARC, and
have published cryptic
fragments of documents
that were allegedly
found in laptop
computers seized at Raúl
Reyes’ camp, and which
the Colombian government
has interpreted as
evidence of such ties.
"Who can keep Colombia
from bombing us again
one of these days? We
have to be particularly
wary when Uribe acts
like he is close to
Ecuador," said Correa,
who added that when the
Colombian leader said he
would stop anti-coca
fumigations along the
border between the two
countries, spraying
operations in the area
were actually stepped
up.
On Mar. 31, the Correa
administration brought
legal action against
Colombia before the
International Court of
Justice (ICJ) in The
Hague for damages caused
by the spraying of
glyphosate, an
herbicide, along the
border.
Scientific studies have
found that Ecuadoreans
living near the border
have suffered health
effects as a result of
the spraying of coca
crops in Colombia. The
fumigation has also
affected crops and
livestock.
Ecuador has asked the
ICJ to order Colombia to
pay reparations for the
damages caused to the
local population and the
environment over the
past seven years.
The lawsuit states that
several indigenous
communities have fled
Ecuador’s border region
as a result of the
aerial fumigation.
Ecuadorean Foreign
Minister María Isabel
Salvador said that in
January and February,
her government once
again attempted to
tackle the problem in
talks between the two
countries’ foreign
ministries.
But Salvador said the
Colombian government
refused to sign an
agreement to refrain
from spraying within 10
kilometres of the
border, and, "with no
other option left open
to us, after seven years
of diplomatic efforts,
Ecuador decided to take
legal action."
Quito wants the ICJ to
declare that Colombia’s
spraying has violated
Ecuador’s national
sovereignty and
territorial integrity;
order that it stop
spraying within 10
kilometres of the
border; and establish
reparations to be paid
for the damages caused.
Although the government
had been preparing the
lawsuit since last year
and it was not directly
related to the Mar. 1
bombing, the
cross-border raid
prompted the Correa
administration to move
ahead more decisively
with the issue.
"There is no doubt that
the spraying constitutes
a grave violation of
sovereignty and
international law," said
Salvador.
The Uribe administration
has rejected the legal
action, arguing in a
statement that "the FARC
have been the main
promoters of the
cultivation of illegal
crops in Colombian
territory, and it is
they who manipulate the
people into protesting
any initiative aimed at
eradicating such crops."
In January, "President
Uribe reiterated the
offer to indemnify, in
accordance with
Colombian law,
Ecuadorean citizens who
may have suffered
damages as a result of
the aerial spraying,"
added the communiqué.
The statement also said
that Uribe "expressed
his intention of
intensifying manual
(coca) eradication
programmes in the area,"
but had decided against
making a commitment to
suspend the spraying.
Correa told IPS that he
would begin a diplomatic
campaign in Europe to
debunk the Colombian
government’s allegations
against his government.
Bogotá’s "smear campaign
based on misinformation
has done us a great deal
of harm, given how
susceptible the European
Union is to this kind of
thing," said Correa.
On the other hand, "the
Colombia’s government
has suffered a complete
political, diplomatic
and media defeat in
Latin America; no one in
the region believes
Uribe anymore, and the
Rio Group condemnation
was couched in very
strong terms," said the
left-leaning president.
Correa told the press
Thursday that "We won't
allow any regular or
irregular foreign forces
to set foot on
Ecuadorean soil. If we
come across patrols, or
FARC camps, in
Ecuadorean territory, it
will be considered an
act of war." He also
called on the FARC to
release all of the
hostages the rebel group
is holding, and said
Ecuador was willing to
help broker a
humanitarian solution to
the hostage crisis.
"If we can serve as
intermediaries, we will
do so," he said, adding
that prior to the
bombing of the FARC
camp, he had already
offered to host on
Ecuadorean territory an
operation for the
release of the 37
hostages still held by
the Colombian
insurgents, who want to
trade them for some 500
imprisoned guerrillas.
Correa said that while
Ecuador maintains
control over its
territory, Colombia has
been unable to do the
same with respect to its
own, despite the fact
that it has more than
400,000 military troops
and police officers,
compared to Ecuador’s
40,000.
He also pointed out that
Colombia’s civil war,
which has dragged on for
nearly half a century,
is the "biggest source
of instability in Latin
America," while
stressing the continuous
flow of U.S. aid
received by Bogotá from
the United States,
through the Plan
Colombia anti-drug and
counterinsurgency
strategy.
"I hope that someday
there will be an
integrated regional
defence policy and armed
forces," said the
45-year-old U.S.- and
European-educated
economist.
Integrated forces "would
be free of foreign
tutelage from countries
unfamiliar with our
reality, our history,"
he said, referring to
the United States. |
