Fury mounts over FARC leader's death
Venezuela and Ecuador have punished Colombia for killing a rebel leader in the Ecuadorian jungle by expelling its diplomats, ordering troops to the border and cracking down on trade.
Colombia quickly struck back, revealing what it said were incriminating documents seized from the rebel camp that suggested its neighbours had been secretly supporting the left-wing rebels’ bloody uprising.
In a tit-for-tat move, Venezuela later displayed the laptop of a murdered drug trafficker, which it said contained information implicating Colombia’s national police chief in the cocaine trade.
Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa piled on the pressure saying Colombia’s killing of rebel leader Raul Reyes on Saturday had scuttled talks between his government and the guerrillas to free 12 rebel-held hostages, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three US defence contractors.
“I’m sorry to tell you that the conversation were pretty advanced to free 12 hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, in Ecuador,” said Mr Correa in a televised address.
“All of this was frustrated by the warmongering, authoritarian hands” of the Colombian government, he added.
Colombia’s national police chief stood by its attack that killed Reyes, and said that documents recovered from his laptop showed Venezuela’s left-wing government recently paid £158 million to the rebels, among other financial and political ties that date back years, and that top-level meetings had been held between rebels and Ecuadorian officials.
And Colombia even claimed some documents suggested the rebels had bought and sold uranium.
“When they mention negotiations for 50 kilos of uranium this means that the FARC are taking big steps in the world of terrorism to become a global aggressor. We’re not talking of domestic guerrilla but transnational terrorism,” General Oscar Naranjo said.
General Naranjo did not give any details on when, where or from whom the uranium was allegedly bought. He provided no proof of the payment and would not release copies of the documents, which he said were “tremendously revelatory” and being examined with the help of US experts.
Both Venezuela and Ecuador dismissed his allegations as lies. They expelled Colombia’s top diplomats and recalled their own. Mr Correa plans to visit five Latin American countries starting today to defend his decision to break off diplomatic relations, accusing Colombia of being an enemy of peace and lying about the nature of the raid.
Colombia said military commandos, tracking Reyes through an informant, were fired upon from Ecuadorian territory. But Mr Correa said Colombia deliberately carried out the strike beyond its borders and that the rebels were “bombed and massacred as they slept, using precision technology”.
Both Venezuela and Ecuador also began reinforcing their borders, mobilising troops and tanks as Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez warned that another Colombian attack could spark a wider South American war.
Venezuelan National Guard troops and customs authorities suspended new imports and exports at the busiest border crossings.
Maintaining trade with Colombia, essential to Venezuela’s economy, is one of many factors weighing against outright war. But the bellicose rhetoric has worried Latin American leaders.
The presidents of Chile, Mexico and Brazil offered to mediate and an emergency session of the Organisation of American States was planned for today in Washington.
US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the United States supported Colombia’s right to defend itself against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and called for dialogue.
The rebels, who have been fighting for more than four decades for a more equitable distribution of wealth in Colombia, fund themselves largely through the cocaine trade, while holding hundreds of kidnapped hostages for ransom and political ends.
The drug trafficking and kidnappings have not helped their reputation, which is why both Mr Correa and Mr Chavez have denied supporting them.
