[Lasnetmail] Colombian Military Incursion into Ecuador SparksRegional Crisis

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from: http://alainet.org/active/22545&lang=en

Colombian Military Incursion into Ecuador Sparks Regional Crisis
Daniel Denvir

On Saturday March 1, Colombian military forces attacked an encampment
of the FARC, the largest Colombian guerilla group, across the
Ecuadorian border. The strike, in violation of international law,
reportedly killed up to 20 guerrillas in their sleep. Among those
killed was Raúl Reyes, a top FARC commander. The attack has sparked a
regional crisis and raised fears of a spreading armed conflict.

The move against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was
immediately denounced by leaders across Latin America as an attack on
Ecuador's territorial sovereignty. These two central facts—that
Colombia initiated the crisis and that the attack was widely
condemned—would be hard to glean from the pages of The New York Times
and other major U.S. media.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez joined Ecuadorian President Rafael
Correa in denouncing the attack, warning that a similar attack on
Venezuelan soil would be cause for war. On Sunday, Chavez ordered 10
battalions, a total of 8,000 troops, to the Colombian border. Ecuador
also sent troops to its border. In addition, both countries recalled
their diplomats from Bogotá, Venezuela closed its embassy and the
Colombian ambassador was expelled from Quito. On Monday, Ecuador and
Venezuela broke all diplomatic relations with Colombia.

Colombia at first denied entering Ecuadorian territory. According to
Correa, Uribe informed him that there had been a clash between FARC
and troops near the border. But Ecuador found 15 guerillas dead and
two wounded when troops were sent to the border to investigate.
Colombian troops actually entered up to 10 kilometers into Ecuadorian
territory. To this revelation, Correa responded, "President Uribe was
either misinformed or was lying."

Striking back, the Colombian government claimed to have found
information on Reyes' laptop proving Ecuadorian government support for
the FARC, a charge that the Ecuadorian government quickly denied.  The
Colombian government also claimed to have seized evidence proving that
Venezuela had provided over $300 million in funding to the FARC.
Colombia also announced that it would denounce Chavez in the
"International Criminal Court for sponsoring and financing genocide."
The Colombian government's charges do not have much credibility in the
region.

U.S. Backs Colombia

Governments around the world, and particularly in Latin America,
expressed their opposition to Colombia's incursion. On Tuesday, Correa
began a five nation tour across Latin America to build support for
Ecuador's position.

A White House spokesperson, however, failed to mention the attack's
location, stating "This is an odd reaction by Venezuela to Colombia's
efforts against the FARC, a terrorist organization that continues to
hold Colombians, Americans and other hostages." The White House is
currently pushing the U.S. Congress to pass a Free Trade Agreement
with Colombia, despite widespread concerns that this would only offer
to support to the government, paramilitaries and companies who are
responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of trade unionists,
activists and civilians.

Reports are circulating that the United States, beyond supporting
Colombia's attack, provided intelligence on the guerillas' location.

The United States has a large role politically and militarily in the
region. The Colombian military receives over $500 million a year in
military and police aid from the U.S., far more than any other country
in the hemisphere. Venezuela and Ecuador are both wary of US military
power in the region. In 2002, the U.S. supported a failed right-wing
coup in Venezuela. In Ecuador, Correa's government—in response to
social movement demands—will not sign the lease on the US military's
Manta Base when it comes up for renewal in 2009.

Chavez and others are calling Colombia "the Israel of Latin America,"
accusing Colombia of doing the United States' bidding in the region.
On his weekly television program Aló Presidente, Chavez said, "I told
Correa, count on Venezuela for whatever you need, in whatever
circumstance. We don't want war. But we will not let the North
American empire—which is the master here—along with their lapdog Uribe
and the Colombian oligarchy divide and weaken us. We are on alert and
will help Ecuador in whatever circumstance."

On the campaign trail, Democratic Senator and presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton demanded that Chavez cease all "provocative actions"
in the region, calling the movement of Venezuelan troops to the border
"unjustified and dangerous." This is an interesting interpretation,
given that it was Colombia's illegal entry onto Ecuadorian territory
that provoked both Correa's and Chavez's actions in the first place.
Since September 11th, US policy towards Latin America has been
increasingly framed as part of the War on Terror. Senator and
Democratic candidate Barack Obama offered a somewhat more measured
response, calling on the "presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and
Venezuela...to ensure that events not spiral out of control, and to
peacefully address any disputes through active diplomacy with the help
of international actors." Yet he placed the blame for the violence on
the "terrorist insurgency," saying that "the Colombian government has
every right to defend itself against the the FARC." Clinton,
notoriously hawkish, has repeatedly called Obama "naive" for his
willingness to meet with leaders such as Chavez.

A Long Conflict

The FARC was formed in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian
Communist Party. In the 1980s and 90s, wealthy landowners began to
form right-wing paramilitaries to protect their property from
guerrillas and violently root out social dissent. In 1985, the
guerillas formed a political party called the Patriotic Union (UP) as
part of peace negotiations with the Colombian government. Thousands of
UP candidates, leaders and supporters were assassinated by
paramilitaries in the following years. Over the last two decades, the
FARC has lost much of its political support—and ideology—and have been
accused of involvement in drug trafficking.  It is quite important to
remember, however, that paramilitaries and the Colombian military have
committed over 90% of human rights violations in the country.

It is telling that in the U.S. and Colombian media only the FARC are
represented as terrorists. State and paramilitary violence are
rendered invisible.

President Uribe came to power in 2002 amid promises to militarily
crush the FARC and the ELN, a smaller guerilla army. In Colombia,
social movements and the "democratic left" demand a negotiated
solution to the conflict and have declared their neutrality from all
armed actors.

Relations between Colombia and Venezuela have deteriorated over the
past months since Colombian President Alvaro Uribe initially scuttled
Chavez's attempts to mediate a prisoner/hostage release with the FARC.
Until recently, relations between the two countries had been
surprisingly cordial, given that Venezuela leads a movement for what
is often called "Socialism of the 21st Century" while Colombia is
governed by a far-right leader with close ties to paramilitary death
squads and the Bush administration.

The negotiations were called off on December 31st when the FARC
accused the Colombian government of engaging in military operations in
violations of the negotiated agreements around the prisoner release.
The prisoners were eventually released to Venezuelan officials on
January 10th, a huge boon to Chavez and a major embarrassment to
Uribe. The FARC unilaterally released four congresspersons on
Wednesday, three days before the attack.

Organizations throughout the region are strongly opposed to increased
armed conflict. According to William Sánchez, an analyst based in the
Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, "President Correa's response, to recall
his ambassador from Colombia and to expel their ambassador, was just
and logical. It was a just protest against a violation of our
sovereignty. Nevertheless, I hope that things don't intensify. Uribe's
government should understand that he can't involve us in a conflict
for which they alone are responsible." It appears that the chance of
war between Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador is low given strong
regional commercial ties along with a host of regional leaders
strongly pushing to avoid armed conflict.

Paradoxically, this attack could spell a diplomatic victory for the
FARC, although it constituted a major military defeat. According to an
article by Colombian journalist Simone Bruno and Ecuadorian journalist
Eduardo Tamayo (http://alainet.org/active/22528), widespread
denunciation of the attack could lead to increased pressure on the
Colombian government to move towards a negotiated solution to the
Colombian conflict. The analysts argue neighboring countries are
"already exhausted...with the entry of a number of armed actors in
their territory. They have also had to take in displaced people and
refugees, which in Ecuador alone have reached a population of over
300,000." For neighboring countries, it is increasingly clear that the
Colombian government must pursue a negotiated solution to the
conflict.

The leftist Polo Democratico Alternativo, the main Colombian
opposition party, called for peace and denounced the Colombian attack.
In a statement released on Sunday, they said that they are "worried
about the expansion of the conflict to neighboring countries and
growing US intervention, factors that effect sovereignty and democracy
at the regional level. We reject any extraterritorial action on the
part of the Colombian Armed Forces and also ask insurgent groups to
respect the territorial autonomy of bordering states."

That the attack took place just three days after the FARC released
four prisoners clearly represents a rejection of dialogue on the
Colombian government's part. The future response of a war-weary
Colombian people—and a war-wary region—are, however, difficult to
understand and impossible to predict.

- Daniel Denvir is an independent journalist from the United States
and a collaborator at the Latin American Information Agency
(www.alainet.org) in Quito, Ecuador. He is also an editor at the
forthcoming journal Caterwaul Quarterly (www.caterwaulquarterly.com).