Ecuador President “Demands” OAS Decision on Colombian Armed Action

Text of report by Brazilian news agency Agencia Brasil website

[Report by Mylena Fiori and Yara Aquina: "Ecuadoran President Demands Prompt OAS Decision On Colombian Armed Action"]

Brasilia: Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa demanded today (the 5th) a quick decision by the OAS concerning Colombia’s armed action against FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrilla fighters in Ecuadoran territory.

Correa also hopes that the investigating committee proposed to the OAS by Brazil will be installed as quickly as possible. The organization’s Permanent Council has been examining the case since yesterday (the 4th) at a special session.

“We demand that the OAS take a stand quickly by confirming the inviolability of national territories in accordance with its charter, confirming the inviolability of country sovereignty, establishing the investigating committee to ascertain the facts, and confirming the aggression to which we have been subjected,” he said in a statement to the press following his meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Planalto Palace.

Repeating what he had said yesterday on his arrival in Brasilia, Correa condemned the Colombian Government’s policy of attacking territories where terrorists might be present. He said that if that kind of thinking prevailed, the neighbouring countries would also have the right to promote terrorist activities in Colombia.

“If FARC is a danger to the region, as is claimed by Uribe (Colombian President Alvaro Uribe), we all have the freedom to shell Colombian territory,” he said.

The Ecuadoran president again expressed gratitude for the Brazilian Government’s “straightforward and direct” stand in condemning from the start the Colombian military attack in neighbouring territory. He said that the time had come for Latin American unity and that he was counting on international support, but he reiterated that the Ecuadoran people were prepared to carry defence of the country’s sovereignty to its ultimate consequences.

“We are counting on the international community, but above all we are counting on our own forces, our dignity, and our pride, and we will not permit the outrage of a government that has betrayed any principle of international law.”

Rafael Correa was in Peru yesterday seeking regional support, and today he is going on to Venezuela. The Ecuadoran president also plans to visit Panama, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

Originally published by Agencia Brasil website, Brasilia, in Portuguese 5 Mar 08.

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