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The 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis was a diplomatic standoff between the countries of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. It began after the incursion of the Colombian military into Ecuadorian territory across the Putumayo River, during the early hours of March 1, 2008. The attack resulted in the death of over 20 people, including Raúl Reyes (nom-de-guerre of Luis Edgar Devia Silva) and 16 other members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who were sleeping in a clandestine encampment. Colombia's violation of Ecuadorian sovereignty, which was rejected as illegal by Ecuador and multiple countries throughout the region as well as by other analysts[1][2], led to increased tensions between Colombia and Ecuador, as well as the movement of Venezuelan and Ecuadorian troops to their respective borders. The crisis ended at a Rio Group summit on 7 March 2008, with a public reconciliation of the parties involved in the dispute.[3] Background
In 2007, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba acted as authorized mediators in the ongoing Humanitarian Exchange between the FARC and the government of Colombia. Colombian President Álvaro Uribe gave permission for Chávez to mediate under the conditions that all meetings with the FARC would take place only in Venezuela and that Chávez would not directly contact members of the Colombian military, but instead would go through the proper diplomatic channels.[4][5] President Uribe abruptly terminated Chávez's mediation on November 22, 2007 after Chávez personally contacted General Mario Montoya Uribe (not to be confused with president Alvaro Uribe), the Commander of the Colombian National Army.[6] In response Chávez said he would be willing to mediate again but that he had withdrawn Venezuela's ambassador to Colombia and that he had placed Colombian-Venezuelan relations "in a freezer". He also called Uribe a "liar and a cynic".[7] Uribe responded that Colombia needed "mediation against terrorism, not for Chávez to legitimize terrorism", that Chávez was not interested in peace in Colombia, and that Chávez was building an expansionist project on the continent.[8] From January to February 2008, FARC unilaterally released six hostages "as a gesture of goodwill" toward Chávez, who brokered the deal and picked them up by sending Venezuelan helicopters with Red Cross logos into Colombian jungles.[9] Incursion of the Colombian military into Ecuador  Santa Rosa
The incursion took place in the vicinity of Santa Rosa de Yanamaru in Ecuador's Sucumbíos province
The week before the attack it was revealed that the Colombian government, with assistance of the U.S. federal government's FBI and DEA, had wiretapped several satellite phones purchased in Miami and then delivered to FARC forces in Southern Colombia.[11][12] According to an unnamed Colombian military source, an international call made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on February 27 to Raul Reyes via satellite phone was intercepted by authorities. The source claimed that Chávez called Reyes to inform him that the release of three FARC hostages held captive for almost 7 years had been successfully completed, and the intercepted call was then used to track Reyes to a location in Colombian soil near the border with Ecuador.[13] Colombian troop movements from Cali to the border area had begun on February 29.[14] On March 1, 2008 at 00:25 local time (0525 UTC), Colombia launched a military operation, 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles) inside Ecuador's border.[15][16][17] Colombian intelligence reports indicated that Raúl Reyes was expected to stay near the Colombian location of Granada for the night of February 29, 2008.[18] On and after February 27, several members of the guerrilla's 48th Front were captured by Colombian security forces near the Ecuadorian border, taking away some support from the main group. During the subsequent operation, the Colombian Air Force stormed Granada, followed by a Colombian special forces group and members of the Colombian National Police.[14] According to Colombian authorities, the guerrillas reacted to the initial bombardment from a position in the vicinity of Santa Rosa de Yanamaru, on the Ecuadorian side of the border, killing Colombian soldier Carlos Hernández. A second bombardment was carried out as a response, resulting in the deaths of Raúl Reyes and at least 20 more guerrilla members.[19] Two of the bodies, several documents and three laptops found in the guerrilla camp were returned to Colombia.[15][20] This was the first time the Colombian military had killed a member of FARC's leadership council in combat.[21] After the operation, Colombian authorities increased security measures nationwide fearing FARC retaliation.[22] According to the Ecuadorian government, the attack happened 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) inside its territory without its permission and was a planned air strike followed by the incursion of Colombian troops transported by helicopters. The attack left a total of over 20 guerrillas and others dead in Ecuadorian territory, many of them found wearing underwear or sleeping clothes.[23][1][2]Ecuador's government concluded that the attack was a "massacre" and not the result of combat or "hot pursuit". Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa estimated that the war planes penetrated 10 km into Ecuador's territory and struck the guerrilla camp while flying north, followed by troops in helicopters who completed the killings, adding that some of the bodies were found shot from behind.[23] Ecuadorian authorities found three wounded women in the camp, including a Mexican student identified as Lucía Andrea Morett Álvarez.[24][25] Lucía Morett claimed she was visiting the guerrilla group as part of an academic investigation, refusing to answer other questions about her time among them.[26] Regarding the attack on the camp, she has stated: "I was asleep when we received a first aerial attack. Two or three hours later we were attacked again".[26] Ecuador was investigating together with Mexico whether Mexicans were killed during the raid.[27] According to the director of the Ecuadorian military hospital which treated the three women, they had received some sort of medical attention from both the attacking Colombian forces and the Ecuadorian soldiers who found them later.[28] Pepe Escobar, a The Real News analyst, has claimed that U.S. Special Forces also aided the operation[1]. Diplomatic developmentsColombia's violation of Ecuadorian sovereignty led to increased tensions between Colombia and most of the other South American states. On Saturday, March 1, Álvaro Uribe said a few hours after the operation that "today we have taken another step against terrorism, that does not respect borders" and added that he took full responsibility for the operation.[29] Uribe also spoke by telephone with his Ecuadorian counterpart, Rafael Correa, before 8:30 am, to inform him of the incident.[30] In a press conference that evening, Correa rejected the incident as an "aggression" against Ecuador, considered the result to be a "massacre" after describing that the rebels had been killed in their sleep using "advanced technology", and said he was summoning his ambassador in Colombia for consultations.[30] Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez called the attack "a cowardly murder" and reacted by closing his country's embassy in Colombia and moving troops near the border with Colombia.[31] On Sunday, March 2, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa announced that a diplomatic note would be sent in protest,[32] saying that the action was a violation of Ecuador's airspace.[33] Ecuador also formally recalled its ambassador from Colombia, and expelled the Colombian ambassador in Quito.[30] The Colombian government announced it would not mobilize any troops in response to Hugo Chávez's order to move 10 battalions towards the frontier and that it will not respond to the accusations made by Chávez on his weekly TV program Aló Presidente, who denounced the President Uribe as a "liar", "a lackey of North-American Imperialism" and claimed Colombia sought to become "the Latin American equivalent of Israel", linking Colombia's actions with his criticism of Israel Defense Forces' strikes on Palestinian militants.[34] Colombian foreign minister Fernando Araújo Perdomo apologized to Ecuador, "for the action that we were forced to take in the border zone". He added that "the Colombian government never had the intention or disposition to be disrespectful of or to violate the sovereignty or integrity of the sister republic of Ecuador".[35] The Colombian foreign ministry affirmed that Raúl Reyes "directed for many years criminal operations in the southern part of our country, covertly, from Ecuadorian territory, without the approval of that government". The Colombian government said it was ready "to compensate any Ecuadorian citizens that could have been affected".[36] The Colombian National Police also held a press conference at which it revealed a series of documents seized from the guerrillas that allegedly implicated both Venezuela and Ecuador in supporting FARC activities. (See seized documents, below.) FARC spokesmen announced that Raúl Reyes's death "should not affect the search of a humanitarian agreement for interchange of kidnapped people". They added that they "We invite to revolutionary firmness, to not surrender any effort in support of an humanitarian exchange, to continue in our intentions of peace and construction of an effective democracy with social justice". FARC has kidnapped hundreds of people, and it seeks to exchange some 40 hostages for 500 guerrilla members held in Colombian prisons.[37] A statement issued by Venezuela's foreign ministry on Monday, March 3, announced the decision to order the expulsion of Colombia's ambassador in Venezuela and all diplomatic personnel of the Colombian embassy in Caracas.[38] Authorities in Venezuela partially halted trade at two major border crossings according to Isidoro Teres, president of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in the Táchira State border town of Ureña.[39] That same day, Ecuador's Foreign Ministry issued a statement alluding to its cutting off diplomatic ties with the government of Colombia. The statement reported that president Correa had initially ordered the protection of a Colombian patrol which claimed to be surrounded by 200 FARC elements while Ecuadorian forces were engaging in a mission to verify the events on the border, but that the Colombian forces were "trying to buy time" to return to Colombia after attacking the FARC camp. The Ecuadorian government stated it had intercepted communications showing this and that the Colombian forces knew they had entered Ecuador.[40] Colombian Minister of Defense Juan Manuel Santos stated that the operation of Colombian troops could have been avoided with a greater cooperation from Quito. "If we had any real collaboration from Ecuador to pursue these groups, this kind of situations wouldn't occur, but we have never had it. They always have taken the position that they do not want to interfere in the Colombian conflict", said Santos.[41] On Tuesday, March 4, Venezuela's minister for land and agriculture, Elías Jaua, told state broadcaster VTV that Venezuela was closing its border with Colombia.[42] At a morning press conference, Álvaro Uribe announced that Colombia intended to bring charges against Hugo Chávez with the International Criminal Court for the crimes of funding terrorism and genocide.[43]Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on March 5, 2008 called the Colombian raid that killed two dozen rebels in Ecuador a "war crime," and joined Ecuador's president Rafael Correa in demanding international condemnation of the cross-border attack.[44] At a ten-hour emergency meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States held in the afternoon of March 4, Ecuador urged the OAS to condemn Colombia's violation of its territorial integrity. Colombia, in response, insisted that the hemispheric body roundly condemn terrorism and its funding. Due to disagreements regarding content, the Council was unable to produce a final declaration on the matter. It did, however, agree to reconvene on March 5 to continue its debates, to convene a meeting of consultation of the member states' foreign ministers on March 17, and to set up an ad hoc fact-finding mission to investigate the incident.[45] In Brazil as part of a five-nation tour to drum up support for his country's position, President Correa said Ecuador would reestablish diplomatic relations with Colombia "in the very improbable circumstance" of that country offering an unrestricted apology, ensuring that no similar incidents take place in the future, and retracting its allegations of ties between Quito and the FARC. He also emphasized that had any Ecuadorians died in the attack, "we would already be at war".[46][47] On Wednesday, March 5, Colombian authorities reiterated their commitment to maintaining peace in the region as they announced no troops would be deployed towards its borders.[48] On 6 March, the OAS criticized, but did not officially condemn, the Colombian excursion into Ecuador. The OAS resolution called on José Miguel Insulza, its secretary general, to form a commission in order to investigate the incident on both sides of the border, as well as to help find a way to resolve the diplomatic crisis between both governments.[49][50] Later that day, Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega announced the breaking of diplomatic relations with Colombia.[51] Nicaragua has a territorial dispute with Colombia over the Colombian territory of San Andrés and Providencia. Hugo Chávez threatened to nationalize Colombian assets in Venezuela saying, "We're not interested in Colombian investments here."[52] At a Rio Group summit held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on March 7, 2008, Colombia's Álvaro Uribe, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega publicly shook hands in a show of good will. The handshakes, broadcast live throughout Latin America, appeared to be a signal that a week of military buildups and diplomatic repercussions was over. After the handshakes, Ortega said he would re-establish diplomatic ties with Colombia.[53][54] Venezuelan and Ecuadorian troop movementsVenezuelan president Hugo Chávez moved troops to near the border with Colombia,[31] warning that a Colombian incursion into Venezuela would be a "cause for war".[33] Chávez announced that he had put the Venezuelan military on high alert, pledging Venezuela would "back Ecuador in whatever circumstance".[55] Ecuador also ordered troops to its borders.[56] The Colombian government announced it would not mobilize any troops in response to Hugo Chávez's order to move 10 battalions towards their common border.[57][58] The Colombian military and national police are battle-hardened from its years of fighting FARC and drug traffickers. Moreover they have the benefits of the latest military aid, hardware, and training in cooperation with the more than 800 US military advisers there. The Colombian army in general is more than twice the size of the Venezuelan and Ecuadorean military combined.[citation needed] Allegations about FARC relationships with Ecuador and Venezuela from seized documentsOn the afternoon of March 2, 2008, in a short press release, General Óscar Naranjo, director of the Colombian National Police, as spokesperson of the Colombian government, announced that during the military operation in the Colombia-Ecuador border several documents and three laptops were retrieved along with the bodies of Raúl Reyes and one of his lieutenants.[59][60][61] Copies of 13 documents were provided by Gen. Naranjo to reporters on March 4.[61] The first set of documents contains a letter from Reyes to the high command of FARC explaining that he had recently held meetings with the Security Minister of Ecuador, Gustavo Larrea, representing President Correa, with the intention of "establishing formal relations with the FARC". In the letter Reyes transmits the following information to the high command: the intention of the Ecuadorian government to replace police forces that do not accept the presence of the guerrilla organization in the area; the request for the release of a hostage, "perhaps the son of professor Moncayo or someone else who may increase political action"; and the decision of Ecuador to annul next year's license for the use of Manta Air Base by the United States.[62][63] Ecuador's Interior Minister Fernando Bustamante dismissed the allegations as "false". He stated that "We are not going to accept such a thing". He added "It is very easy to say something based on evidence that has not been scrutinized publicly or internationally."[59] The next day another set of documents, which allegedly indicate a relationship between FARC and Venezuela, was released. According to Naranjo, the documents suggest Chávez gave the FARC guerrillas US$300 million and is assisting the organization to obtain 50 kilograms (110 lb) of uranium. Óscar Naranjo also said there was evidence Hugo Chávez had received 100 million pesos when he was a jailed rebel leader (US$54,000 at the current exchange rate).[60] Journalist Greg Palast disputed that the available documents mention $300 million, saying they only contain a reference to the number "300", which he argues may refer to prisoners or to something else, calling the allegation that Chávez may have sent money to FARC a "phastasmogoric [sic] story".[64][65] Some of the documents along with photographs obtained from Reyes' computer were transmitted to the press[66]. The rest of the documents still have not been released.[67] Vice president of Colombia Francisco Santos stated at a disarmament forum in Geneva that FARC was planning to build a "dirty bomb" although he presented no evidence to back up his affirmations.[68] A message to Reyes seems to indicate that the motive was to sell the uranium for a profit.[61] A letter from FARC supremo Manuel Marulanda to the Venezuelan President was released on March 4.[69] In this letter Marulanda thanks the Venezuelan Government for its assistance in the war against the Colombian Government and Álvaro Uribe presidency, supported by the United States. FARC also offered their "modest knowledge in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution" in case of "a gringo aggression", understood as assistance against a possible military action from the United States. Venezuelan Interior minister Ramón Rodríguez Chacín denied the accusations and stated that "They say that they find in that computer a letter from Marulanda to our commander in chief. Everybody already knows (the letters), the ones showed by our commander in chief. Pay attention, Venezuelan and Colombian people, how they manage the manipulation and deception, that kind of santanderist technique and now with fascism".[70] Rodríguez Chacín also stated that months ago, Venezuelan authorities seized another computer from the deceased narcotrafficker Wilson Varela, which in turn implicated Colombian police and General Óscar Naranjo in drug trafficking. "I deduce links of consanguinity and business between that general and that mafia capo to not reveal important information. Juan David Naranjo was one of his links and adjutants, brother of General Óscar Naranjo Trujillo." said Rodríguez Chacín. He added he had not made public the documents before "because of ethics".[71] The affair that involved General Naranjo's brother in drug trafficking was widely known since May 2006, when Naranjo himself announced it to the press.[72] The Colombian government stated that it would present the documents to the Organization of American States (OAS) to demonstrate that Venezuela and Ecuador are supporting the FARC, and thereby "violating international law against the harboring of terrorists".[73] President Uribe stated that "our UN ambassador will announce that Colombia intends to denounce Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela (to the International Criminal Court), for sponsoring and financing people that commit genocide".[74] On March 3, Ecuadorian security minister Gustavo Larrea admitted having met with FARC, without specifying where. Later that day, Ecuador's government announced it was in "very advanced talks" with FARC, seeking to free 12 hostages including Ingrid Betancourt. According to President Rafael Correa, the effort was thwarted by Colombia's military operation.[75] The Colombian government rejected this argument, arguing that the captured computer documents revealed Ecuador to be engaging in "hostage trafficking for political means" and political gain, by suggesting it would rotate military personnel in the border and allow FARC to operate more freely.[76][75] On March 4, Colombian newsweekly Revista Semana published the second of two special editions following the death of FARC's Raúl Reyes, presenting some of the documents said to be found in the computers seized by the Colombian government. [77][78] The documents include several letters between FARC commanders and the Secretariat, describing:
On March 6, 2008 Viktor Bout, a ex-KGB agent turned weapons dealer was arrested in a luxury hotel in Thailand during a raid staged by US DEA agents and carried out by Thai police forces. He is accused of supplying weapons to several militias in Asia, the Middle East and the Colombian terrorist group FARC. Sources in Spain[79] claim that his arrest was enabled by information in the captured computers, but this was contradicted by sources in Colombia[80]. The Colombian Administrative Department of Security (DAS) reported it has asked for Interpol's technical support in order to decipher the seized FARC computers. According to DAS, Interpol has accepted the request and is sending several experts to Colombia.[81] The final report was presented in May 15. Interpol's report said that it found no evidence that the Colombian Government had manipulated the laptops.[82][1] The report also says that Interpol experts didn't "evaluate the accuracy or the source of the exhibit's content."[82][83]. President Hugo Chavez dismissed Interpol's findings as "A show of clowns, ridiculous" given by a "gringo, aggressive, corrupt and vagabond policeman," about which "spending time on is not worthwhile." and threatened to revise both economic and diplomatic relations with Colombia. [3] [4] Pepe Escobar, a the Real News analyst, has questioned why the Colombian government was able read documents from the laptops "in two or three days", referring to Interpol Secretary General Ronald Kenneth Noble's statement that "it would take more than 1,000 years—more than 1,000 years—to read all the data if one person read 100 pages per day."[1] Historian Forrest Hylton, who called the Colombian incursion "one of the gravest breaches of diplomacy in the hemisphere" in several years, has argued that the reason why the Colombian government agreed to give the laptops to Interpol was that "they knew that Interpol would not be able to testify to the veracity of the contents."[1] The data included personal pictures of Raul Reyes and the terrorist camp that was bombed in the attack. According to Colombian officials, the information contained in the laptops not only corroborated some of their previous suspicions [5] but has also led to several important discoveries about FARC's inner activities and their entire international network. The information described the way in which the FARC leadership dealed with several crimes, including the deaths in captivity of the 11 Norte del Valle deputies and their ties with notable drug dealers and Colombian politicians[6]. It led to the discovery of FARC funds related to Rodrigo Granda hidden in Costa Rica [7] and to the capture of Rosario García Albert, a Spanish woman who is believed to be the representative of the guerrilla in the European peninsula [8]. On March 25, 2008 Colombian intellingence discovered 30 kilograms of impoverished Uranium that, according to officials, corroborates the alleged deal mentioned on Reyes' computers [9]. Some important Colombian figures, including Liberal oposition senator Piedad Cordoba, are currently under prosecussion by the authorities for incriminating emails found on these laptops[10]. A chilean government official offered his resignation after being tied with some documents found on the computers. [11]. The information related to the inner workings of the organization and its structural and comunications challenges was used to give the FARC its biggest blow, the intelligence operation which led to the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt and three American contractors on July 2008. [12] During the diplomatic crisis caused by the 2008 unrest in Bolivia, the United States government froze the assets of several senior members of the Venezuelan Government: ex-Interior Minister Ramón Rodríguez Chacín , senior DISIP director Henry de Jesús Rangel military intelligence chief Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, accusing them of "arming, supporting and financing" the FARC and their "killing of innocents" , according to the information discovered on Reyes' computers.[13][14][15] International reactionCommunities and organizations
Americas
Asia
Europe
Key individuals
Social responseOn March 16, 2008 Colombian artist Juanes organized a free concert on the Colombia-Venezuela border as a response to the crisis. The event called "Peace without borders"(Paz sin fronteras) had a message of peace and brotherhood between the three nations. The concert gathered thousands of people from both sides of the border. The concert featured the singers: Miguel Bose, Alejandro Sanz, Juan Luis Guerra, Juan Fernando Velasco, Ricardo Montaner, Carlos Vives and Juanes.[110]  Wikinews has related news:
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References
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