Peru's president: Colombia's incursion into Ecuador "unacceptable"

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Xinhua

Peru's president: Colombia's incursion into Ecuador "unacceptable"


www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-04 08:52:57

LIMA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian President Alan Garcia said Monday that Colombia's incursion into the Ecuadorian territory to attack Colombian rebels was "unacceptable," calling on the Organization of American States to clarify what anti-terror measures are appropriate.

Garcia said he would not allow such a thing to happen in Peru, adding that Colombia has clearly violated international laws.

"There should be a clear commitment that none intervenes inside another nation's territory," he said.

Ecuador broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia on Monday, 48 hours after Colombian police and military officials killed rebels from that nation's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), at a camp in Ecuador 3 km from the border.




Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/04/content_7712633.htm

---

Alan Garcia and his American friend.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Brazil: Colombia should formally apologize to Ecuador

Brazil: Colombia should formally apologize to Ecuador


www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-04 08:58:59

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said Monday that the Colombian government should formally apologize to Ecuador for trespassing on the country's territory in an operation that killed a prominent rebel leader.

"Violation of territory is very serious," Amorim said, adding that Brazil condemns any such act.

According to the minister, the Colombian government must make a formal apology in order to halt the ongoing crisis, which has been escalating since Colombian forces destroyed a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Ecuador Saturday, killing some 20 rebels, including Raul Reyes, who was regarded as the guerrillas' second most important leader.

The incident prompted the Ecuadorian government to expel Colombia's ambassador from Quito, its capital city, and withdraw its diplomats in the neighboring country.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/04/content_7712709.htm



Celso Amorim to Lula's left.

[AlphaCentauri]

8. Media says Colombia did apologize

of course the paid media

Colombia apologized for the incursion, and had every right to expect understanding. But instead of a spotlight on Ecuador for harboring terror camps, critics focused on Colombia's trespassing.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=289440647476476

[Judi Lynn]

10. Unbelievable! The writer of that article and the typical reader must stay drunk all the time!

So little regard for the truth: all emotionalism, slurs, and outright lies. Amazing.

Wish there were more the world could do to make life easier for these assholes.

[High Plains]

15. Investor's Business Daily? You're citing IBD?

Well, you are certain welcome to, and it clarifies some things.

Which investments are you watching?

[damntexdem]

17. They likely also supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Turkey's of Iraq.

No concern for international laws, just a rightwing cause.

[RamblingRose]

2. What is the political climate in South America in the different countries? Is anybody supporting

Colombia's actions?

[Bacchus39]

4. no, but it would appear that some are supporting FARC actions

n/t

[AlphaCentauri]

6. Not many support the invasion of another country n/t

[Winterblues]

25. Bush* is even though the USA is also a signatory to the Mutual Defense Pact

signed by all Central and South American countries. It states if any country is attacked by another country they will come to that country's aid. It didn't work out so well for haiti but the circumstances were a bit different. Haiti was overthrown by Rebal Forces, not another country's military. Ecuador was bombed by another country's military. Huge difference and the USA should according to the US constitution come to Ecuador's aid but then again Bush* has never concerned with "that goddamned piece of paper"

[cal04]

3. Ecuador's Correa says was close to FARC hostage deal

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Monday his government had been close to securing a deal with Colombian FARC rebels to free 12 hostages, including French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, before a military incursion by Colombia.

Correa was responding to accusations by Colombia that his government had ties to the rebels amid a diplomatic dispute over the Colombian raid in which a senior guerrilla commander was killed in Ecuadorean territory on Saturday.

Correa said Colombia had been aware of his attempts to broker a hostage deal with the FARC rebels.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03413339.htm

[Judi Lynn]

5. Good lord! I guess someone had Uribe send the message that this war is going to continue

indefinitely, probably as long as _Bush wants the war in Iraq to last.

If Uribe allows the hostage return, and a general atmosphere of peace-seeking arises, he's going to be forced to give up his billions and billions of U.S. taxpayers' dollars, and the U.S. won't have a base of operations in Latin America any longer!

[Mudoria]

9. Seems Correa has pretty close knowledge of the

FARC terrorists. Maybe he should police his own borders a little better to keep those thugs out and perhaps incidents like this wouldn't be necessary.

[AlphaCentauri]

7. I'll wait to see how the EU reacts to this incident n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. Your reasoning? What does EU have to do with South America's

problems (other than being the #2 market for cocaine)?

[AlphaCentauri]

13. According to the Colombian government anybody who contacted the FARC support them

Spain and France have been in contact with them:

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=120676&Itemid=594

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL03829045

For instance, in 1998 a Clinton administration official, Philip T. Chicola, then the State Department’s director of Andean affairs, had a clandestine meeting with Mr. Reyes in Costa Rica in an effort to establish a way of communicating with the FARC during times of crisis.

The meeting was described in a diplomatic cable written by Mr. Chicola in January 1999 and declassified in 2004. Also present at the meeting was Mr. Reyes’s wife, Olga Marín, a woman believed to be the daughter of the FARC’s top commander, Manuel Marulanda, and also reported to be present, and possibly wounded, in the raid on the jungle camp on Saturday.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/world/americas/04venez.html?em&ex=1204779600&en=f5e40c6c9ff2b475&ei=5087%0A

[EFerrari]

20. France wants Betancourt out and out alive if it's not too late. n/t

[ben_meyers]

16. European reaction?

Much of the problems in South America, and the rest of the world for that matter, are a result of European colonialism in the 1st place. Maybe it's time for Europe to STFU, and take care of their own problems.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Argentina to lodge complaint over Colombia trespass to OAS

Argentina to lodge complaint over Colombia trespass to OAS

www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-04 09:18:13

BUENOS AIRES, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said Monday the country will present its strong rejection of any territorial trespassing in an extraordinary session of the Organization of American States (OAS) Tuesday.

Taiana was responding to questions by Argentine media about the three-way conflict between Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia, from Switzerland where he was attending a United Nations meeting.

The three nations became embroiled in a serious diplomatic conflict after Colombian police and soldiers killed 21 rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) at a camp in Ecuador Saturday.
(snip)

Taiana, who outlined Argentina's position after a meeting with his Ecuadorian counterpart Maria Isabel Salvador, said, "Respect for territorial sovereignty is an inviolable principle in international law. Nothing and no one can justify its violation."

More:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/04/content_7712939.htm

[Winterblues]

14. Only America can violate International Law in such a manner

Don't these third world countries get it? America is privileged, America's pResident is privileged, and Republicans in general are Privileged. It is refreshing though to see other countries acknowledge that such activity is illegal. One country just can not enter another sovereign nation to chase terrorists at their whim..The world says NO.

[Peace Patriot]

18. Well, that's interesting, that one of the Bushites' ever-dwindling "friends and allies"

in South America--the corrupt Peru "free trader," Alan Garcia--ALSO objects to this Bushite black op to sabotage the hostage negotiations and peace initiatives for Colombia. I had figured him for a Bushite pushover, when push came to shove (so to speak). With Ecuador on one border, and Bolivia on the other, Peru sits between two Bushite targets--the oil fields of Ecuador, and the gas and oil reserves in Bolivia. Rumsfeld (i.e., his op-ed in the Washington Post, Dec 07) is desperate for strategic ground from which to launch destabilization efforts, rightwing paramilitary death squads, and even U.S. military intervention in support of fascist thugs planning coups in these countries, as well as in Venezuela and Argentina. It appeared to me, the way things are set up for Rumsfeld's OIL WAR II, that Peru would be a transit area for Rumsfeld's forces. But I hadn't counted on simple Latin American PRIDE--respect for Latin American sovereignty. And, we shouldn't kid ourselves--all South Americans know that Colombia = U.S. The Colombian government is a puppet of the Bush Cartel. So this recent, horrendous incident, is not just one South American country, Colombia, violating the sovereignty of another, Ecuador. It is the UNITED STATES, with its billions of dollars in military aid to Colombia, who is pulling the strings.

And I guess Alan Garcia doesn't like his strings pulled--or he's being duplicitous, also a possibility. (The same with Calderon in Mexico--saying one thing, for the ears of their Latin American brothers, but quite another in secret communiques with the Bush Junta.) In any case, Rumsfeld (master string-puller in this situation) has put them all in a VERY AWKWARD POSITION. They all know what's going on. It's only U.S. taxpayers who don't know what's going on--the opening shots of OIL WAR II, orchestrated by Donald Rumsfeld, that lovable old retiree--and slaughterer of 1.2 million people to get their oil.

Well, I hope this finally puts an end to the disaster of U.S./South American relations, under the Bush Junta. And I hope that the South Americans take the action that is really needed, and that is appropriate--which is to throw the U.S. out of the OAS for this outrage--and condemnation of, and sanctions against, its puppet Colombia. The U.S. money train is completely out of fuel. There is no more money in the U.S. treasury. We are looking at a TEN TRILLION DOLLAR deficit. So we U.S. taxpayers can no longer subsidize Colombia and its death squads. The Colombian people need to join the rest of South America--Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Nicaragua (and soon Paraguay)--all now with good, leftist (majorityist), democratic governments--in regional self-sufficiency and cooperation, and independence from the U.S.

And we can thank Donald Rumsfeld for this*, and for all his other blessings.

------------------

*"The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez," by Donald Rumsfeld, 12/1/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.html

[Judi Lynn]

22. It would be an appropriate outcome if Garcia started identifying with his neighbors, for a change.

It was a shock seeing he even considered moving independently of his benefactor, _{George W. Bush.} It looked as if he was as firmly in the subservient position as is Uribe. Don't know how to see this, either! Glad he "busted a move," however.

[Peace Patriot]

19. Take a look at who Bush Cartel client Colombia just killed...

Also posted by Judi Lynn this morning...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3207652

"Dead Colombian rebel was France's hostage contact
Mon Mar 3, 2008 11:55am GMT

"PARIS, March 3 (Reuters) - A rebel commander killed by Colombian forces was France's contact in negotiations aimed at winning the release of hostage Ingrid Betancourt, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Monday."

---------------------

Rumsfeld & co. just alienated their new CONSERVATIVE President of France, in addition to alienating all of Latin America. Gee, you think they're trying to lay some hand grenades in the lap a Democratic president, or what?

[Peace Patriot]

21. And here is what Bush Cartel client Colombia was sabotaging....

Chavez, freed FARC hostages call for political solution to Colombian conflict
February 29th 2008, by Kiraz Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com
Luis Eladio Pérez and Gloria Polanco speaking at the press conference in Caracas (Reuters)

Caracas, March 1, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called for international mediation group to negotiate a humanitarian accord in neighboring Colombia, after a successful Venezuelan led humanitarian mission secured the release of four former legislators held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), on Wednesday.

During a telephone call to state owned VTV Thursday, Chavez indicated that France, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina as well as the Organization of American States support such a move. It is "essential" that Venezuela is part of any international mediation group, because "the FARC have demonstrated that they don't believe in anyone else," he added.

In a communiqué, released minutes after the hostage handover the FARC said this would be the last unilateral hostage release. The FARC reiterated their longstanding call for a military free zone as a precondition for any further negotiations for a humanitarian exchange of 40 remaining high profile hostages for 500 imprisoned guerrillas. However, the Colombian government immediately rejected this proposal.

Chavez said the desire for peace by the majority of Colombians and that the pressure of world opinion would force Uribe to change his position.

"President Uribe is going to have to change his position. Everybody is in agreement except for Uribe, " he declared.

Speaking at a press conference in Caracas on Thursday night, the former Colombian legislators, Luis Eladio Pérez, Jorge Gechem, Orlando Beltrán and Gloria Polanco, also spoke out in favor of a military free zone to facilitate a humanitarian exchange.

"I publicly challenge President Alvaro Uribe to demonstrate the success of his policy of democratic security and clear the military from the municipalities of Pradera and Florida and after 45 days the Armed Forces can recuperate this territory," Perez said after his liberation. "The solution is political, Mr. President Uribe," he repeated twice during the press conference.

"If you persist in the foolishness of insisting on a military rescue you are going to receive, Mr President Uribe, 40 or 50 corpses. It is absurd to think of a military rescue with the conditions that we had in captivity. There would be a massacre," Pérez stressed.

He revealed that the four recently liberated ex legislators have a proposal to present "to President Uribe, the President (of France Nicholas) Sarkozy and, of course, to President (of Venezuela, Hugo) Chavez." This proposal would only be made public after the three heads of state had been informed, he said.

Pérez who classified the FARC as a "political military group who use terrorist practices" also referred to former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, captured by the guerrillas in 2001, who he said is in a "very bad state of health."

In a message released in 2003 demonstrating Betancourt's proof of life, the former presidential candidate indicated that she was opposed any form of military rescue, as she feared a repeat of the tragedy that occurred in May that year when ex governor of Antioquia, Gilberto Echeverri, and the del ex Defense Minister, Guillermo Gaviria, died during a botched military rescue ordered by Uribe.

Betancourt maintains this position Perez said, however she is also conscious "of the high risk and lack of commitment of the President of the Republic."

In contrast Betancourt calls for a political solution to the conflict based on the Geneva Convention and believes that "fundamentally President Uribe has to recognize the political status of the FARC guerrillas," Perez said.

Pérez also affirmed that after an attempted escape, Betancourt, "remained chained up during the night," and her captors, "humiliated her, obliged her to walk barefoot, tied her to trees and rationed her food."

Ex congressman Orlando Beltrán condemned "all terrorist acts, wherever they come from. I condemn the terrorism of the FARC, of the paramilitaries and the terrorism of the State." He pointed out that Colombia "is the only country in the world that has disappeared an entire political movement, more than six thousand leaders of Unión Patriótica were disappeared, to speak only of this case."

Under a previous peace accord in the 1980's the FARC demobilized and formed Unión Patriótica, however after they laid down their arms thousands of former guerrillas were hunted down by paramilitaries, backed by the Colombian state, and massacred, forcing them back into the armed struggle.

Beltrán added that the Colombian State "has to assume responsibility and understand that they must create the conditions to achieve a humanitarian accord. I don't understand why, when make these handovers in a unilateral manner, they say they are not going to clear the military from a centimeter of the national territory."

Gloria Polanco asserted, "It is necessary to reach the heart of President Uribe, to speak to him, to explain, because he has to understand that if he does not clear the military from Pradera and Florida, which is what the FARC ask, our comrades will die in captivity."

"I am asking for a humanitarian accord, because they have to place value on life, not on a piece of land, not on a piece of territory," she said.

All four ex-legislators confirmed that they would participate in an international day of action organized by human rights organizations on March 6 in protest against paramilitary violence in Colombia. Uribe has condemned the protest scheduled to take place in some 150 cities around the world, claiming it is organized by the FARC.

(emphasis added)
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3213
(Note: Venezuela Analysis is a Fair Use web site.)

-----------------

PEACE!

[Judi Lynn]

23. 2008/03/05

2008/03/05
Brazil President slams Colombia

10:31:43 Þ.Ù
Colombia violated the territorial sovereignty of Ecuador with its weekend raid on a rebel camp, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva said Tuesday ahead of a meeting with his Ecuadorian counterpart.

"That is a concrete fact, admitted even by President (Slvaro) Uribe" of Colombia, Lula told reporters in the southeastern city of Campinas.

"When such things happen it is always difficult to find a solution because ... nobody wants to go back on what they have done," he said.

Lula was to host Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa late Tuesday for talks on the worsening regional crisis.

More:
http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=251571&n=28

[Judi Lynn]

24. Bolivia calls Unasur meeting on Colombia-Ecuador crisis

Bolivia calls Unasur meeting on Colombia-Ecuador crisis
+ - 13:30, March 05, 2008

Bolivian President Evo Morales and current President of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), has called a special meeting of the Union to discuss the Colombia-Ecuador diplomatic crisis, according to a statement from Bolivia's Foreign Ministry Tuesday.

The Unasur Council of Foreign Ministers meeting will take place Thursday in the Dominican Republic on the sidelines of a Rio Group meeting there, said the statement.

Earlier Tuesday, Morales said the two nations' conflict could seriously affect the Unasur consolidation process.

Foreign ministers from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay have confirmed that they will attend the meeting, it said.

More:
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/6366780.html

[mtnester]

26. As El Bushador fiddles

and hugs Columbia

[Judi Lynn]

27. Nicaragua breaks relations with Colombia

Nicaragua breaks relations with Colombia
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 03/06/2008 11:29:57 AM PST

MANAGUA, Nicaragua—Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced Thursday that he is breaking off relations with Colombia because of his country's opposition to the Colombian raid on a guerrilla base in Ecuador.
Ortega announced his decision publicly after meeting with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who is on a multination tour in the region to rally opposition to Colombia's action, which killed the No. 2 commander of the Colombian FARC guerrilla group and 23 other Colombian guerrillas.

"We are breaking off relations because of the political terrorism being carried out by the governnent of Alvaro Uribe, not because of the Colombian people," Ortega said.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8477213?nclick_check=1