There's little about this on the U.S. media, but we should be paying some attention:
A very volatile situation is now in progress in northern South America, involving Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Yesterday, in the wee hours of the morning, the Colombian air force bombed to shreds a group of FARC guerrillas sleeping at an improvised riky-dinky camp on the Ecuador side of the border (south of the Putumayo river). Raul Reyes, second in command of the FARC, along with other 15 (or so) guerrilla fighters were killed in the raid. The evidence (photos published by the Colombian press and reports of an investigation conducted by Ecuador) indicates they were killed while sleeping. Reyes was the FARC's chief negotiator in the release of prisoners deal that got some recent attention in the media. Even Sarkozy was happy about the way these negotiations, mediated by Chavez, had evolved. Uribe was in a very uncomfortable position, since the release of prisoners by the FARC was putting him on the spot to deal with the guerrillas and, perhaps, even start peace negotiations with them. The military and the U.S. were opposed to dealing with "terrorists." Uribe called Correa later in the morning and told him that the initial bombing had taken place on the Colombian side and that, then, the guerrillas had crossed the border, all while responding to the attack with fire. So the Colombian army persecuted them and "in the heat" of the battle, they either crossed the border or from the Colombian side of the government shot at them (while the guerrillas were on the Ecuador side) and killed them. Only one Colombian soldier was reported killed. Yesterday, during the day, Uribe and the Colombian military gave press conferences, smiling faces, full of glee, congratulating themselves for the feat. Yesterday morning, Correa said on national TV that he had been informed by Uribe of the event and immediately ordered an investigation. He sounded prudent. No criticism of Colombia. Later in the day (or this morning, it's not clear to me), Correa appeared in national TV in Ecuador and reported on the results of the investigation. This time Correa was clearly angry at Uribe. The investigation showed that the camp was on the Ecuador side (2 miles far from the river, the unmistakable border). They found two wounded guerrilla fighters (in pajamas or underwear), the bodies of other guerrillas were left there. (The Colombian military took some of the bodies and dragged them along.) Correa called it a "massacre." Correa says it was a violation of the national sovereignity, recalled his ambassador in Colombia, and demanded a clear explanation and apologies from Uribe. Correa insinuated that Colombia's attack had the logistic support of the U.S. (I suppose, he was referring to the air technology required for precision identification of targets and bombing). He didn't refer to the U.S. by name -- he just alluded to "likely support from a foreign power." Correa says Uribe either was misinformed (and should say it) or lied to him outright. Correa said that Ecuador will respond appropriately (and will go "all the way") if their demands of an apology are not met, which I take it as meaning that they will bring the case to the international court. In turn, in Caracas, Chavez gave a press conference and warned Uribe that doing the same on Venezuelan territory would be casus belli. Chavez said he and Correa talked and crossed information. I don't know who's currently in charge of Latin America at the State Department, but it must be people of the same type as Roger Noriega and Otto Reich. Why did Uribe/the U.S. ordered this attack in violation of -- as Chavez puts it -- "a host of international laws"? Are they deliberately creating a mess there to dump on the lap of whoever wins the presidency? Is this their plan to destabilize a leftward shifting South America? Frankly, this doesn't seem accidental to me. It had to be vetted by Uribe and, almost surely, by Washington. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
