CORREA Angrily Rejects Mending Fences with Colombia

[magbana]

Ecuador's president angrily rejects mending fences with Colombia

'We have been disrespected,' President Correa says of Bogota during a radio talk today. He declines to follow Venezuela's Hugo Chavez in repairing relations after a border crisis.

By Chris Kraul and Mery Mogollon, Special to the Times
2:13 PM PDT, July 12, 2008

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa angrily declined today to follow the example of his ally on the South American left, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, in mending tattered relations with Colombia.

"Our sovereignty has been trampled on and we have been disrespected," Correa said during his radio show in Ecuador's capital, Quito. He said he had no interest in restoring normal ties with Colombia, led by conservative President Alvaro Uribe, until there was a government "worthy of talking to."

Relations between the neighbors have been strained since Colombia mounted an attack in Ecuadorean territory in March that killed leftist Colombian rebel leader Raul Reyes. Ecuador and Venezuela rushed troops to their borders with Colombia, sparking the region's worst crisis in years.

After the raid, Colombia claimed that electronic files recovered from Reyes' computers indicated that Chavez was aiding the rebels and allowing the insurgents to use western Venezuela as a haven. Chavez denied the allegations.

Chavez and Uribe met Friday in the western Venezuelan refining town of Paraguana and, in Chavez's words, "turned the page" on poor relations. Chavez said he would also like Uribe's help in fighting drug trafficking. Uribe proposed a new railroad to connect the two countries.

Diplomatic problems are in neither Chavez's nor Uribe's interest.

For Uribe, Colombian trade with Venezuela is too important to risk. "Political difficulties shouldn't be confused with the nation's needs," Uribe advisor Jose Obdulio Gaviria told the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo.

Chavez's allies face local and state elections in November, and polls show that most Venezuelans don't like his stated admiration for Colombia's largest rebel group, known by its Spanish acronym FARC. More than 1 million Colombians live in Venezuela, many of them registered to vote.

Chavez has recently called on the FARC to release the 700 or more hostages it still holds, a sign he is softening his support of the rebels.

Chavez said he would try during a visit to Ecuador this week to persuade Correa to seek a rapprochement with Uribe. But Correa said today he was having no part of it, that he had taken offense at Colombia's portrayal of his country as an "accomplice and staging area" for the FARC.

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Times staff writer Kraul reported from Bogota and special correspondent Mogollon from Caracas.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-colombia13-2008jul13,0,1697192.story

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[Zorro]

1. Correa is being quite petty about relations with Colombia

He should do something about FARC's presence in Ecuador instead of whining about Uribe.