Tensions linger between Colombia and Ecuador

[Zorro]

Source: LA Times

Ecuador today will begin imposing stiff tariffs on hundreds of Colombian imports, the latest round in a festering dispute between the neighbors.

The tariffs could affect at least one-third of the $1.6 billon in annual Colombian exports to Ecuador. The Ecuadorean government said the measure was put in place to compensate for a recent devaluation of the Colombian peso.

But observers say there is little doubt that it is the latest in a series of retaliatory measures by both countries since Colombia sparked a regional crisis with its brief incursion into Ecuadorean territory in March 2008 to kill a high-ranking leftist rebel leader.

Ecuador's move follows the unusual filing of murder charges last month by a local judge against former Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, who planned the incursion last year that left more than 20 people dead in addition to Raul Reyes, a leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-colombia-ecuador13-2009jul13,0,1255611.story

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Correa seems to be spoiling for a confrontation with Colombia; I hope he doesn't turn it into a military retaliation.

Raising taxes on foodstuffs is not going to help the hungry in Ecuador.

[Peace Patriot]

1. This article is extraordinarily vague on sources, and relies on a journalistic device

for editorializing without seeming to do so that I've come to expect from the Associated Pukes and other rancid corpo/fascist sources, but find a bit surprising in the L.A. Times, which used to have higher standards...

"...observers say..."

"But observers say there is little doubt that it is the latest in a series of retaliatory measures by both countries since Colombia sparked a regional crisis with its brief incursion into Ecuadorean territory in March 2008 to kill a high-ranking leftist rebel leader".

"Analysts are concerned..."

"In any case, Ecuador's foreign minister, Fander Falconi, said last week that relations between the two nations were at a low point. Analysts are concerned that the war of words and dueling lawsuits could escalate."

"Officials say..."

"Colombia then struck back by filing a suit in the International Criminal Court accusing Correa, ex-Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea and ministry official Ignacio Chauvin of links with the FARC. Officials say evidence from laptops seized in Reyes' camp after the raid about a mile south of the Colombian border indicates that the FARC had extensive contact with Ecuadorean officials."

For all of these "observers" and "analysts," the reporter quotes only one source--a professor in Bogota (Colombia), and although he quotes "officials" on other matters, he pointedly fails to identify the "officials" who made these charges against President Correa based on the discredited "miracle laptop" (later, "laptopS"), that supposedly survived 5 to 10 U.S. "smart bombs" dropped without warning on a camp of 25 sleeping people just inside Ecuador's border.

Aside from this vagueness regarding "observers" and "analysts"--without quotation or attribution (except for the Bogota professor), which I associate with lies, disinformation and psyops--the article seems more even-handed than I would expect from a U.S. 'news' monopoly. For instance, it reports Ecuador/Correa's long-standing grievances against Colombia, such as Colombia's failure to patrol its borders for "armed groups, drugs and immigrants," and--remarkable that this was reported--Ecuador/Correa's demand for the videotape of the "smart bomb" raid "to prove that Colombian armed forces acted without U.S. assistance." (The Ecuadoran military which visited the bombed out camp said they used 5 to 10 U.S. "smart bombs," and that Colombia does not have the capability--the aircraft and pilots--to deliver them.)

But I intend to study the article more closely, to look for the psyops. It is in the interest of U.S. based global corporate predators and war profiteers to promote war between the U.S. client state and narco trafficking headquarters, Colombia, and the highly popular leftist president of Ecuador--and U.S. puppets Uribe and Defense Minister ($6 BILLION in U.S. military aid) Santos have been trying to draw Correa into a conflict for more than a year. Correa had just been elected, and was a young new president, with no experience in diplomacy and foreign relations, when they bombed Ecuador in March 2008, and nearly started a war between Colombia and Ecuador/Venezuela. Cooler heads prevailed (notably Chavez, whom Brazil's president called "the great peacemaker" for his role in de-fusing that conflict), and Correa is more experienced now, and a) takes no crap from the fascists and warmongers in Colombia, and fights back verbally, with lawsuits and other peaceful means, and b) I think understands that they are trying to goad or trap him into a war that will only benefit the militarists.

[Zorro]

2. You don't really need a decoder ring to decipher the article

It indicates Ecuador is raising tariffs on a variety of products imported from Colombia. I believe this is not in Ecuador's interest, and will make rice and medical supplies more expensive for its citizens.

I think this is petty and unwise, and indicates that Correa remains a hothead instead of a statesman.

[scarletwoman]

3. Yes, I'm sure you would prefer we all swallow the propaganda without question.

Unfortunately for you, lots of us know better.

[Zorro]

6. Unfortunately you're one of those that doesn't know better

The FACT is that Reyes was on Ecuadorean territory, and that Ecuador took no action on their own to remove him.

FARC enjoys relative freedom to move about in Ecuador, and the Correa government has not done much to disable them.

FARC is a regional -- not just exclusively Colombian -- problem, and requires coordination and cooperation between Ecuador and Colombia.

The FACT that Correa ignores this as a regional problem indicates he doesn't want to take the problem seriously.

[scarletwoman]

8. Reyes was there to meet up with the hostage negotiators.

The biggest regional problem is recovering from decades of right-wing dictatorships, their death squads, and the U.S. sponsorship thereof.

[EFerrari]

11. Correa's real crime is that he's winning a legal battle against Exxon.

That's why the right wing Neanderthals hate him. That's enough to make him a terrorist in their eyes.

[scarletwoman]

12. Yeah, the nerve of that guy! How dare he!

And Zelaya in Honduras asking the voters if they wanted to hold a vote on forming a committee to look into writing a new Constitution -- another evil dictator in the making!

:eyes:

[Peace Patriot]

5. Correa a 'hothead'? It was Bush/Uribe/Santos who BOMBED Ecuador, killing

25 sleeping people in a hostage negotiator camp, without trial and without even notifying Correa, let alone getting his permission! He had reason to be alarmed and to immediately send troops to the border, as did Chavez. They were both well aware of the Bushwhacks' hostile intentions, and that Uribe and the Colombian military were (and no doubt still are) tools of the Bushwhacks. Whatever Correa had done in response would have been justified under international law, including a retaliatory strike on Colombia, but that is what the Bushwhacks very much wanted him to do, and Correa acted wisely (and Chavez, Lulu and others were wise to advise him) not to be drawn in, no matter the provocation. What Correa was obliged to do--his DUTY as president--was to DEFEND Ecuador. No one could tell in the early hours how far the attack was going to go. Ecuador's oil is located in the north and is a prime global corporate predator target, with local fascists involved in a three-country Bushwhack plot to instigate fascist secessionist rebellions in the oil-rich provinces of Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia. The Bolivia plot unfolded later in the year with the Bushwhack funded/organized white separatist insurrection. Correa had no way of knowing, as the US/Colombia bombing/raid occurred, that it was not the opening shot of a coordinated war plan from within and without. (They later had an inquiry into the Ecuadoran military, and the CIA operatives were purged.) In any case, NO PRESIDENT can tolerate a BOMBING RAID on his country and sit back and do nothing.

But it is far, far better to retaliate verbally, with appropriate lawsuits, in international forums, and with non-violent means such as tariffs, to make it very clear that Ecuador will not be bullied, than to get drawn into a shooting war, especially when the opponent has $6 BILLION in US military aid and war ops are being run out of the US embassy "war room" in Bogota. There is no evidence, other than Obama's vague words, that this US policy has changed, and plenty of evidence to the contrary, and it is not clear that, even if Obama is well-intentioned, he has full control of the US secret government/war apparatus. Correa's first duty is to attend to Ecuador's SECURITY. Colombia's 40+ year civil war is constantly spilling over into Ecuador, with thousands of refugees crossing the border, and constant Colombian military and rightwing paramilitary death squad activity, and wretched US "war on drugs" toxic pesticide spraying in the border areas. It is not "hot-headism" to be concerned about these matters. It is the daily headache of being president of Ecuador, a country with lots of oil that global corporate predators like Exxon Mobil and Chevron-Texaco want to control.

[IndianaGreen]

4. It was Uribe that sent his troops into Ecuador, but then you always blame the rape victim

and support the oligarchs that did the raping.

[Zorro]

7. We know you support the FARC narcoterrorists

If they had been on the Colombian side of the border when bombed you no doubt would have been likewise outraged.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Who is "we?" The John Birch Society?

Your hero Uribe had his privately owned death squad.

[EFerrari]

10. I don't think the John Birch Society is that far to the right. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

13. Maybe the National Alliance, or Church of the Creator.

http://www.maryellenmark.com.nyud.net:8090/text/magazines/mirabella/images/216R-006-08A.jpg http://www.rahowa.com.nyud.net:8090/creator_art4.jpg