[R-G] Venezuela and Ecuador Resolve Differences with Colombia at Regional Summit

[Anthony Fenton]

Venezuela and Ecuador Resolve Differences with Colombia at Regional  
Summit
March 8th 2008, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuela's President Chavez and Colombia's President Uribe confer  
during the Rio Summit in the Dominican Republic (Semana)
Mérida, March 8, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) - During the 20th  
Presidential Summit of the Río Group, held Friday in Santo Domingo,  
Dominican Republic, the Ecuadorian, Colombian, and Venezuelan heads  
of state reached an agreement that effectively cooled off the  
diplomatic crisis, which had raged across Latin America last week  
following air and land attacks by Colombian armed forces last  
Saturday on encampments of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia  
(FARC) inside Ecuadorian territory.

The declaration endorsed by the 19 member countries of the Río Group,  
which was created in 1986 to be a political forum for Latin American  
heads of state, included a rejection of the violation of Ecuadorian  
territorial sovereignty and an endorsement of the resolution of the  
Organization of American States (OAS), which had denounced Colombia's  
attack on Thursday. Moreover, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe issued  
a formal apology to the Ecuadorian government and people and took  
full responsibility for the attacks.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa had made clear throughout the week  
that mere diplomatic apologies would not suffice for the resolution  
of this conflict, so the Río Group declaration also sealed the  
commitment of President Uribe to "not repeat" the acts that provoked  
the conflict, and of all member states to respect national  
sovereignty and uphold peaceful coexistence in the region.

In return, President Correa agreed to receive the documentation that  
the Uribe administration claimed incriminated Correa for having an  
inappropriate relationship with the FARC.

During the summit, Uribe read the documents, which were allegedly  
salvaged from the wreckage of the attacks in a computer that belonged  
to Raúl Reyes, the FARC second in command who was killed in the  
assault. Correa responded by asserting that his hands "are not  
stained with blood" and he rejected the idea that the Ecuadorian  
government had "collaborated with the FARC".

However, Correa had made clear on Thursday that his government had  
been in contact with the FARC in order to negotiate the liberation of  
12 hostages, including the French ex-presidential candidate Ingrid  
Betancourt whose release is a top priority of French President  
Nicolás Sarkozy. French Foreign Relations Minister Bernard Kouchner  
confirmed that his government was aware of Correa's negotiations with  
the FARC.

Correa claimed that Uribe knew that the Betancourt's liberation was  
being arranged for this month and accused the Colombian president of  
deliberately obstructing the humanitarian process by going ahead with  
the attacks on the previous Saturday.

The Ecuadorian president proposed to the Río Group Friday the  
creation of an "international force that controls the border that  
Colombia does not know how to control with its militarist policies."

Uribe remained staunchly opposed to any such international group that  
would presumably be involved in the Colombia-based conflict,  
including the idea supported by several presidents, including  
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, of forming a multi-state  
negotiating group to bring forth a humanitarian accord between the  
Colombian government and the FARC.

Also in the Summit's final declaration was a commitment among those  
involved in the recent conflict to maintain the lines of  
communication open.

While Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega called the Colombian  
assault on FARC encampments "state terrorism," he nonetheless  
retracted his termination of diplomatic relations with the Colombian  
government, proclaiming that "the agreements reached permit Nicaragua  
to backtrack in its rupture of relations with Colombia."

Ecuador's President Correa, however, said that the restoration of  
diplomatic relations with Colombia "will take a little time," because  
"it will be very difficult to restore trust," and added that he would  
"coordinate with Venezuela and make a timeline" and try to repair the  
relationship quickly.

President Chávez, who in the past week had railed against Uribe,  
called for heads of state at the Summit to "reflect, keep a cool  
head, because if we continue, this will continue heating up."

Chavez argued that Uribe's defense of the violation of Ecuador's  
soveriengty represented nothing less than a "vindication" of the  
principle that terrorism may be fought anywhere in the world,  
regardless of the affected country's sovereignty. This is the same  
principle that led to the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.

Responding to the Colombian government's charge that the FARC  
computer's supposedly proved Chavez's support for the FARC, Chavez  
related two anecdotes of how a former president of Colombia, Ernesto  
Samper, and a former president of Ecuador, Hugo Banzer, both  
eventually apologized to him for having launched similar accusations  
against him at different points in his life.

Chavez reiterated that there is no military solution to the conflict  
in Colombia, declaring his desire to "move closer to the path of  
peace, [and] distance ourselves from the path of war," adding that  
Ecuador and Venezuela so far have "done everything possible".

"We have reached the time to detain this whirlpool in which we could  
end up repenting, and not only ourselves but our peoples, children  
and communities, for who knows how much time," Chávez advised the  
group, while reiterating that the Venezuelan government has not  
collaborated with the FARC.

Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Trancoso praised the positive  
interventions of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, whose call for  
"frank dialogue" to reduce tensions at the summit was echoed by Uribe  
and several others. He also thanked Argentine President Cristina de  
Kirchner, Panamanian President Martín Torrijos, and President Chávez,  
who, he said, "behaved like a true pacifist."

Morales Trancoso hailed the outcome of the Río Group as the  
autonomous achievement of a more united Latin America. "We have to  
remember that the Río Group is the only political forum that we Latin  
Americans have, [and] without the influence of anybody we have come  
to an agreement and resolved this big problem."

Following the heated debates that took place over the 10-hour day,  
President Correa announced that "through dialogue, we were able to  
overcome a very grave conflict." Nonetheless, the Ecuadorian  
president maintained a stern demeanor upon shaking hands with Uribe  
at the end of the summit.

"The problem is not solved with an embrace," Correa commented after  
making amends with Uribe, urging the Colombian President to "accept  
international mediation to resolve the problem of the FARC."

Along with his call for peaceful dialogue, Chávez announced that he  
had received proof of life of 6 FARC hostages, and Venezuelan  
Minister of Justice and the Interior Ramón Rodríguez Chacín confirmed  
that the total proofs of life had been increased to 10 just before  
Chávez's departure for Santo Domingo. It remains unclear when these  
hostages might be released, and whether they will be released  
unilaterally or in exchange for insurgents currently imprisoned.

On the same day, news reports accompanied by photographs allegedly  
recovered from the scene of last Saturday's bombardment revealed that  
a group of Chilean Communist Party members had visited the FARC  
encampment where Raúl Reyes was killed in his pajamas by Colombian  
forces last Saturday.

41 year-old Manuel Olate commented that the camp was "pretty simple"  
and meant to provide a safe space, outside of Colombia, to "receive  
people who worked for humanitarian exchange," as 25 year-old Valeska  
López put it. "It had wooden beds and a classroom. There was nothing  
that one could say was a camp for military actions," Olate recounted.

Aside from the declaration about the conflict with Colombia, the Río  
Group also ratified Haiti as the 20th member of the Río Group.