Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

COLOMBIA-ECUADOR: OAS Helps Ease Tension in Diplomatic Crisis

Gloria Helena Rey

BOGOTA, Mar 5 2008 (IPS) - Political and business circles in Colombia breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday after the Organisation of American States (OAS) took a step towards defusing the serious diplomatic crisis between that country and Ecuador.

The OAS Permanent Council approved a resolution that states that Bogotá violated Ecuador’s national sovereignty by attacking a FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) camp Saturday in Ecuadorian territory.

However, it did not condemn the Colombian government for the military operation, as Ecuadorian Foreign Minister María Isabel Salvador demanded on Tuesday.

The resolution reaffirms “the principle that the territory of a state is inviolable and may not be the object, even temporarily, of military occupation or of other measures of force taken by another State, directly or indirectly, on any grounds whatsoever.”

The OAS also decided to establish a commission headed by the organisation’s Secretary General José Miguel Insulza and made up of four ambassadors designated by him, to visit both countries and propose formulas for bringing the two nations closer together. Two of the ambassadors will be from Brazil and Panama.

In addition, an extraordinary regional meeting of foreign ministers will be held on Mar. 17, “to examine the facts and make the pertinent recommendations,” as requested by Ecuador and accepted by Colombia.

The resolution was approved by 33 of the 34 OAS member states, which praised the attitudes and efforts of the governments of Colombia and Ecuador in the search for a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Nicaragua, however, roundly opposed the resolution, arguing that it felt threatened by the Colombian naval vessels near its maritime borders. Managua and Bogotá are embroiled in a border dispute that is being studied by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The delegation of the Venezuelan government – which reacted to Colombia’s incursion in Ecuador by moving troops to its own border with Colombia – also supported the resolution, but said it would work with the OAS commission to provide the foreign ministers’ meeting with elements that would substantiate a more forceful decision against Bogotá.

The agreement was reached after hours of debate and negotiations that began Tuesday.

In the meantime, the Venezuelan high command reported that the mobilisation of troops to the border with Colombia was 85 to 90 percent complete.

According to the Colombian Foreign Ministry, the OAS commission that will visit the places in Ecuador and Colombia suggested by the two governments will be carrying out a fact-finding mission, rather than an investigation, as called for by Quito.

Colombia acknowledged that it violated Ecuadorian sovereignty and apologised once again for the raid.

Foreign Minister Salvador said after the vote on the resolution that “the OAS overcame a historic test that justified its raison d’etre.”

Colombia’s ambassador to the OAS, Camilo Ospina, said that “Ecuador and Colombia are sister countries that cannot consider themselves enemies.”

In Bogotá, the speaker of Congress, Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez, said the incident in Ecuador and the OAS resolution “are a lesson for Colombia to begin to forge closer ties with its neighbours to explain to them the internal situation in the country and the day-to-day escalation of violence to which it is submitted.”

Political and business leaders in Colombia also welcomed the OAS resolution, for helping to defuse the tension.

“It is great news that Colombia was not condemned, because it was understood internationally that the battle being waged here is against terrorism,” said Oscar Arboleda, president of Colombia’s lower house of Congress.

The grave diplomatic conflict between Ecuador and Colombia, in which Quito broke off diplomatic ties with Bogotá, has caused great tension throughout the region.

A closure of Venezuela’s border with Colombia, which Caracas denied doing on Wednesday, would have caused major economic damages in Colombia.

Trade between the two countries amounted to 6.5 billion dollars last year, with Colombian exports to Venezuela totalling 5.2 billion dollars and Venezuelan sales to Colombia 1.3 billion dollars.

Ecuador had sought OAS sanctions against Colombia for the military incursion in its territory, in which the FARC’s international spokesman, guerrilla leader Raúl Reyes, was killed, along with some 20 other insurgents.

Salvador said the raid was “a planned and deliberate attack by air and land on Ecuadorian territory.”

She also accused Colombian President Álvaro Uribe of “lying to Ecuador and to the whole world” when it claimed that the operation was carried out in legitimate “self-defence,” because the guerrillas were actually sleeping when the raid occurred.

In Tuesday’s session, Colombia only received outright support from the United States, while the majority of the member states criticised the military attack.

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Venezuela condemned Colombia’s action. But although El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru and Uruguay condemned the incursion into Ecuadorian territory, they said Colombia’s claims that Ecuador and Venezuela had provided support to the FARC should be investigated.