[southnews] Colombia gets US backing in worsening regional crisis Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:59:02 -0600 (CST) Colombia and Ecuador sought diplomatic help Tuesday to resolve a militarized dispute between them that has already drawn in Venezuela and a pledge of support from the United States for Bogota, its main ally in South America. _____________________________________________ Colombia gets US backing in worsening regional crisis AFP - 1 hour 40 minutes ago BOGOTA, (AFP) - - Colombia and Ecuador sought diplomatic help Tuesday to resolve a militarized dispute between them that has already drawn in Venezuela and a pledge of support from the United States for Bogota, its main ally in South America. As Venezuela and Ecuador reportedly reinforced troops on their borders with Colombia, US President George W. Bush said he stood fully behind his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, and slammed Caracas for raising tensions. "We firmly oppose any acts of aggression that could destabilize the region," Bush said in Washington, singling out "the provocative maneuvers by the regime in Venezuela." Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa, on a visit to Brazil to drum up regional support, said Bush's words in favor of Colombia were an unsurprising plug for an "unconditional puppet." Both Ecuador and Colombia called for an urgent meeting of foreign ministers of the Americas by March 11 to deal with their crisis. The initiative was demanded during an emergency session of the Organization of American States Tuesday that examined the worsening situation and the trigger behind it: a cross-border raid by Colombia into Ecuador on the weekend to kill a rebel leader. During the meeting, Venezuela's representative branded Bogota's strike on the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) camp "genocidal," while Ecuador accused Colombia of a "planned and premeditated violation" of its sovereignty and called for an OAS commission to investigate. Both Venezuela and Ecuador have cut off diplomatic relations with Colombia, kicking out its ambassadors. Colombia reiterated its apology for the attack but also demanded Ecuador and Venezuela explain their reactions. It has accused its neighbors of giving backing to the FARC, claiming documents recovered from the rebel camp showed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave 300 million dollars to the rebels and that Ecuador had contacts with insurgent leaders. Both countries denied the charges. Ecuadoran military reinforcements began Tuesday to arrive at the Colombian border to bolster the 11,000 troops already stationed there. "The personnel are arriving little by little," said Captain David Quinonez, spokesman of Ecuador's Fourth Division in the Amazon border. He declined to give a troop figure, but other military sources said some 300 soldiers have arrived. Venezuelan soldiers were deploying towards their border, said central Lara state Governor Luis Reyes, explaining that his region's military garrison "has proceeded with its mobilization with a mechanized artillery battalion." Venezuela's military leaders have yet to confirm the movements, though on Tuesday the government said it was closing off its border with Colombia. Uribe has responded by saying he would seek to have Chavez tried in the International Criminal Court for allegedly funding "terrorism." Correa, who is touring the region to present his grievances, said in Lima he had decided to go "right up to the ultimate consequences," without elaborating. In Brazil, he said "the United States' argument supporting Colombia is because it is its principal ally" and, irrespective or right or wrong or international law, Bush cared only for his "unconditional puppet." As a result, Correa said, "we now know how to treat the United States." There were fears that if the situation degenerates further, South America may be sucked into a conflict pitting the main US ally against the biggest oil producer in the region, exposing political faultlines and allegiances that divide the continent. Chavez, a leftist firebrand with ideological sympathies towards the FARC and an acolyte of retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has long been a thorn in Washington's side. According to Colombian officials, US intelligence was key to Saturday's attack inside Ecuador, allowing Colombia to pinpoint the location of Raul Reyes by tracking a satellite telephone he occasionally used. The Colombian government also lodged an explosive charge, saying the documents it holds showed the rebels sought 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of uranium to build a "dirty bomb." _____________________________________________- Why has Colombia invaded Ecuador, and why is Venezuela joining the fight? Posted: 2008/03/05 From: Source Backgrounder to the escalating crisis in Latin America... by Paul Vallely (Independent Online) Why are we asking this now? At the weekend the Colombian army crossed the border into Ecuador to kill a Colombian rebel leader, and 16 other guerrillas, who were sheltering there. The move outraged the government in Ecuador, which broke off diplomatic relations with its neighbour and helicoptered 3,000 of its own troops to the border area. Colombia's other neighbour, Venezuela, also reacted. It also expelled Colombia's diplomats and ordered thousands of troops, tanks and fighter jets to the border. Venezuela's fiery president, Hugo Chavez, also warned that war could break out if Colombia crossed into Venezuelan soil. It is the worst diplomatic crisis in Latin America for many years. So what really happened? The Colombians say they first bombed a rebel camp on their own side of the border. They claim that rebels hiding across the border in Ecuador fired on them, so they crossed the border to fight back. The Ecuadorean president, Rafael Correa, called that account an outright lie: "It was a massacre," he said. The Colombian troops were backed by military planes, suggesting the raid was pre-ordained. When Ecuadorean troops reached the rebel camp they found the rebels were killed in their sleep "in their pyjamas". The rebels were "bombed and massacred as they slept, using precision technology." Colombian military sources seemed to corroborate this by revealing that US intelligence helped target the rebels by disclosing that the rebel's deputy leader, Raul Reyes, was sporadically using a satellite telephone, whose signal could be pinpointed. What's at the heart of the dispute? In Colombia a left-wing group of rebels called the Farc the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia has been fighting the government for more than four decades. Their declared aim is a fairer wealth distribution in the country, which has a huge divide between rich and poor. But they finance their armed struggle by trading in cocaine and political kidnapping. Their base is in the remote rural regions of the country but they also take shelter in Ecuador and Venezuela which each have a porous border over a thousand miles long with Colombia. The Colombians accused their neighbours of turning a blind eye to the rebels' presence something Ecuador and Venezuela deny. What's the position of the three leaders? Colombia is ruled by a right-wing populist, Alvaro Uribe, a Harvard-educated lawyer who is a staunch ally of the Bush administration. Since coming to power in Colombia in 2002 he has maintained a hardline policy against the Farc rebels, who killed his father during a kidnap attempt. Washington has poured billions of dollars in American aid to support the Colombian military. The president in Ecuador is a young left-wing economist, Raphael Correa. He has not minced his words in the current crisis. Colombia, he said, has "a foul and lying government that doesn't want peace." In Venezuela the charismatic leftist president Hugo Chavez, backed by his country's vast oil reserves, is attempting direct the continent away from the influence of Washington. He called Colombia "a terrorist state" and described President Uribe as "a criminal," acting for "the United States empire". By contrast he called Raul Reyes a "good revolutionary". What were the rebels doing? The Colombians claim they have captured the computer of Raul Reyes, who was the rebels' main interlocutor with foreign governments. It reveals, they claim, growing ties between rebels and Venezuela and Ecuador. One document, it was said, showed that President Chavez had provided $300m to the FARC. In another letter the rebels offered military assistance to Venezuela in the event of a US attack. A third, it was claimed, showed that the rebels were in negotiations for 50 kilos of uranium to build a dirty bomb. Venezuela and Ecuador poured scorn on the Colombian claims. Journalists were not given copies of the alleged documents. Why is the US involved? As much as 90 per cent of all cocaine on American streets comes from Colombia, the centre of the world cocaine trade. Since 2000, the US has spent more than $4bn giving Colombian forces training, equipment and intelligence to hunt down drug-traffickers and eradicate coca crops. Since 2002 the Bush administration has conceded that some aid is now being spent to tackle the insurgency, even though there is evidence that all sides in Colombia are involved in drug-trafficking. Venezuelan officials insist they have information about links between drug traffickers and top Colombian officials. The Colombian government has also played into American paranoia about the "war on terror", characterising FARC not as an armed struggle to bring political change in a highly segregated society split between rich families of Spanish descent and the vast majority of poor Colombians, many of whom are of mixed race but as an arm of international terrorism. What do other countries in theregion think? They are worried. The big regional heavyweight, Brazil, which has mainly cordial relations with the three presidents involved, has demanded Colombia apologise to Ecuador. Brazil fears the conflict is beginning to destabilize regional relations. The president of Argentina is due to visit Venezuela tomorrow. Peru has urged restraint. Mexico and Chile have offered to mediate. Could there befull-scale war? Certainly the rhetoric is supercharged. Hugo Chavez has called Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe a "mob boss" and a liar. "If it occurs to you to do this in Venezuela, President Uribe, I'll send some Sukhois" the 24 warplanes he recently bought from Russia. The President of Ecuador has said: "This is not a bilateral problem, it's a regional problem... Should this set a precedent, Latin America will become another Middle East." But there is little appetite for armed conflict. The economic costs would be too high. Trade between Colombia and Ven-ezuela is worth $5bn a year, with food imports vital to Venezuelans suffering milk and meat shortages. Ecuador depends on some $1.8bn in trade with Colombia. Militarily Colombia is a formidable foe, thanks to $5bn in aid from Washington and US military advisers sprinkled throughout the Colombian army. The signs are of a climb-down. Colombia has indicated that it will not send more troops to its borders. And Washington, while backing Colombia's right to defend itself, has urged dialogue. Was Colombia justified in crossing into Ecuador to kill rebels? Yes... * The FARC rebels are the chief drug traffickers in a country which produces most of the world's cocaine * Rebels were being given covert support by both Ecuador and neighbouring Venezuela * The rebels are major movers in international terrorism with plans to build a dirty radioactive 'dirty' bomb No... * It was a clear violation of the sovereignty of a neighbouring nation, and was bound to cause regional instability * The rebels are not international terrorists, as Colombia claims, but leftists who want a fairer distribution of resources in the country. * The real drug barons are not the rebel leaders but criminal gangs, many of whom have associations with the Colombian government http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=584247 The archives of South News can be found at http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/southnews/