OAS approves resolution on Colombian action in Ecuador

OAS approves resolution on Colombian action in Ecuador - Summary
Posted : Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:51:05 GMT
Author : DPA

Washington/Quito - The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) on Wednesday approved a resolution stating Colombia violated Ecuador's sovereignty with a cross-border raid to kill a leftist rebel over the weekend. The move sought to defuse the tension that had been mounting among Andean nations, after Ecuador and Venezuela broke diplomatic relations with Colombia and sent extra troops to their borders with that country to protest the action. Venezuela also closed its border to trade.

The resolution did not include a condemnation of the Colombian military operation Saturday on Ecuadorian soil, but did feature an explicit acknowledgement that Colombia violated Ecuadorian territory.

The raid on Saturday - reportedly triggered after a phone call from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to the rebel leader was tracked to the area - claimed the lives of Raul Reyes, second-in-command of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and some 20 other rebels.

The OAS resolution also establishes the creation of a commission headed by OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza to look into the incident, although it leaves open whether it is to be an "investigative" commission, as Ecuador wanted, or a "fact-finding" commission according to Colombia's wishes.

The text calls for a meeting of OAS foreign ministers on March 17 in Washington.

Late Tuesday, a 10-hour emergency OAS meeting in Washington was suspended without an agreement. Conflicting parties continued to exchange accusations, as Ecuador and Venezuela further increased the troop strength along their borders with Colombia.

According to a report by Colombian radio station RCN, a military source who asked not to be named said a call on February 27 from Chavez to Reyes on a satellite phone allowed Colombian intelligence to track down the rebel leader.

The left-wing populist Chavez had been active in seeking the release of more than 40 hostages held by FARC, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt - held for over six years and who has become the group's most high-profile hostage.

Recently Chavez had unsuccessfully called on the international community to grant political status to FARC and remove the group from terrorist lists.

Chavez reportedly talked to Reyes about the release that day of four hostages held by the rebels for at least five years.

"It is a bit ironic that it was a call from President Chavez that allowed us to kill Reyes," the military source was quoted as saying.

The same source said FARC's top leader, Manuel Marulanda Velez, is in Venezuelan territory, close to the Colombian border.

"(Intelligence services) have established that he is ill and has taken refuge in a Venezuelan estate, across the border with the (Colombian) province of Norte de Santander," the source told the radio station.

On Tuesday, conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said he was taking Chavez before the International Criminal Court for "sponsoring and financing" terrorists. However, the Colombian opposition and even the president's foreign policy advisers said such a move would be ill-advised.

In Brazil, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Wednesday called Uribe a "psychopath," a day after describing him as the head of a "rogue government."

At the OAS meeting on Tuesday, Colombia had accused Ecuador and Venezuela of supporting "FARC terrorists" and stressed its right to self-defence. The representatives of Ecuador, Venezuela and other Latin American countries like Nicaragua, Bolivia and Argentina had demanded a condemnation of the "violation of the sovereignty" of Ecuador.

Colombia had strong backing from the United States. US President George W Bush Tuesday expressed his country's support for Uribe and praised his efforts against terrorism, stressing that Colombia could count on the assistance of the United States against Venezuela's "provocative" manoeuvres.

The Colombian Air Force used cluster bombs to attack the Colombian rebel camp on Ecuadorian soil Saturday. Following the bombing, Colombian ground troops entered Ecuador to recover Reyes' body and the rebels' computers, among other things.

FARC, founded in 1964, is the oldest and largest rebel group in Colombia, with some 10,000 fighters, and it has been fighting the Colombian state for over 40 years.

Ecuadorian Defence Minister Wellington Sandoval said Wednesday that the two alleged female rebels (one Mexican citizen and two Colombians) who were injured in Saturday's attack will be tried by Ecuadorian courts.

Sandoval visited the three women at a Quito hospital, where they were recovering from bullet wounds after being rescued by Ecuadorian forces from the site of the attack. The minister said later that there are precedents of Colombian rebels tried in Ecuador for breaking local laws by carrying weapons illegally.

Copyright, respective author or news agency

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/190296,oas-approves-resolution...

By juancegomez on Mar 5, 2008, 13:18 in Politics & the war.

DodgerDogs says on Mar 5, 2008, 13:43:

Do you believe Equador, will prosacute the 3 female rebels ? If so will Equador allow Colombia to extradite them to be tried for crimes in Colombia ?

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.Martin Luther King:

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juancegomez says on Mar 5, 2008, 13:58:

Depends on whether they have a legal basis to do so...there seems to be a partial precedent, but I'm not sure if it fully applies to this case. At least one of them has said she is not a guerrilla, which may or may not be true.

Not going to see any formal extraditions during the crisis, I imagine...

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ColombianoGringo says on Mar 5, 2008, 14:04:

Well, her parents and some in the media are trying to say that the Mexican sack of shit isn't a guerrillera, but her own words seem to say otherwise. I saw a pathetic and wordy letter from her parents to the Mexican press stating that people shouldn't judge her because she was down there for academic research and tourism. They said that she has "social concerns like any university student".

According to an article by Italian news agency ANSA published in an Ecuadorian paper, she is quoted as admitting that she is a guerrilla.

-----------------------------------------------------
ANSA - Quito

... Otra de las guerrilleras, la mexicana Lucía Alicia Morett Alvarez, con una voz todavía muy débil, destacó que fue muy bien tratada en el hospital militar de Quito.

“Aquí me han dado la atención médica, desde el principio; los primeros auxilios y cuando me trasladaron para acá, todo muy bien, una atención muy buena que yo agradezco mucho, dijo Morett, quien precisó que “no llevó mucho tiempo como guerrillera, soy nueva en esto.

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jorgegdiaz says on Mar 5, 2008, 14:05:

This would be great !
The Venezuela General Attorney wants to conduct an investigation...

http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad/?p=12596

woud there be any objectivity/impartiallity there?

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

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robi666 says on Mar 5, 2008, 14:10:

I'd like to invite her in Santa Marta, yes, for tourism. I can organize a special welcome party.

On a more serious note...
So, about the resolution, no sanctions, this seem to be good for Colombia, o no?

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present."

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ColombianoGringo says on Mar 5, 2008, 14:21:

Yes. But Colombia should not let up on the insistence that the OAS or the UN investigate Venezuela's nearly official state sponsorship of the farc. Venezuela should have sanctions imposed on them for Chavez' direct and indirect support for the farc. That would hopefully be the final nail in Chavez' coffin.

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fecherklyn says on Mar 5, 2008, 16:46:

Apparently the presentations to the OAS meeting were televised. I did not see them but I have been informed the Colombian presentation was received by a standing ovation. In contrast, the Venezuelian and Equatorian presentations were received in stony silence.

Did any of you witness this? If what I have been told is true an "unspoken" diplomatic message was passed?

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robi666 says on Mar 5, 2008, 17:13:

That would be something, fecherklyn.
I did not see nor read anything about it.

Text of the resolution in Spanish
http://www.eltiempo.com/politica/2008-03-05/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR...

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nicadj says on Mar 5, 2008, 18:40:

Fecherkly... saw the broadcast... no standing O (that I witnessed) for the Colombian Ambassaor but a resounding applause. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Ambassador was greated with a lot of "rolling eyes" at his diatribe and absolute silence at his completion. Of course, I understood very little, but my wife tries to translate the important segments. Otherwise, I get good opinions and posts from
http://www.cipcol.org/
http://bloggingsbyboz.blogspot.com/
http://ourlatinamerica.blogspot.com/

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ColombianoGringo says on Mar 5, 2008, 19:29:

I saw a 17 minute video of most of the speech. He was very impassioned and convincing. He went point by point on every accusation and the other delegates were following along with their copies of the Colombian package with very concerned look on their faces.There definitely was a good amount of applause although it seemed mainly from people in the audience as opposed to the representatives from other countries. He should be Colombia's Foreign Minister instead of the useless Araujo who is only there for the pity points.

Monpirri posted it in another thread.

mms://video.canalcaracol.com/videos/Noticias/Nacional/Politica/040308defensacolombia.wmv

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