http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/02/chavez.colombia/index.html
They claim they don't want war but Eqauador's government has sent troops to the border with Columbia. This jus hours afters Venezuala did the same in respoen to an attack on Columbian Rebels, the FARC, that penetrate Equadors airspace apparently. Let us hope and pray for cooler heads to prevail as they did in the Cuban missile crisis. A much higher stakes crisis but I jsut finished watching 13 days and it came to mind.
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My understanding is that the Colombian Air Force bombed a site in Ecuador (on the ground, not just over Ecuadoran airspace) where Raul Reyes (That's his alias; I forget his real name, though it's all over the newspapers here in Cali) was in fact hiding. Reyes was next in line for the leadership of the Farc. As of now, there are about 800 (conservative estimate; there are probably over 1000) Farc hostages in Colombia.
Arguably the most famous name is Ingrid Betancourt, who opposed Uribe two presidential elections ago and has a French elite husband. Betancourt has been held in the Colombian jungle for six years and is reportedly very sick with Hep B.
Four more hostages were let go last week, all of them, like Betancourt, former top Colombian politicians or public officials.
The recent bombing, besides probably inciting further violence and doing nothing against the corruption and paramilitarism that Colombia is infamous for, poses two problems:
Firstly, it was carried out over Ecuador, albeit only by a kilometre and a half from the Colombian border. I think Ecuador is justifiably upset at this activity being carried out over its airspace without its prior permission.
Secondly, the Farc are obviously taking advantage of the problem outlined in my first point, and hiding out in countries (especially Venezuela and Ecuador) that border Colombia along some of the least controllable terrain (mountains and/or jungle) in these countries).
It's a terrible situation in parts of Colombia which, despite its notoriety, is very beautiful and could be the jewel of Latin America. The leaders of three countries (Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia) need to work together instead of bickering amongst themselves for illusionary political gain...Anyway there's my two cents' worth.
WRS