Colombian isolation increases as leaders prepare for summit
Hugo Chavez remains uncompromising
Friday, 07, Mar 2008 11:24
The leaders of Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia were preparing to meet on Friday for the first time since a cross-border raid killed a senior Farc commander.
Colombian president Alvaro Uribe has apologised to Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa but insisted the incursion was necessary.
The two leaders are in the Dominican capital Santo Domingo today for a regular Rio Group meeting of Latin American states.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has already condemned Colombia's actions, which killed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) leader Raul Reyes, and has joined Ecuador in deploying thousands of troops on the countries' border.
On the eve of the Rio Group summit, Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega increased Colombia's isolation by breaking off diplomatic ties with Bogota.
"We are breaking off relations because of the political terrorism being carried out by the government of Alvaro Uribe, not because of the Colombian people," Mr Ortega said in Managua alongside Mr Correa, who has been lobbying Latin American leaders for their support.
Farc, which is classified as a terrorist organisation by the US, has been fighting the Colombian government since the 1960s; funding its activities by kidnappings and the cocaine trade.
Colombia's actions have received their biggest defender in Washington, with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice calling for a "diplomatic resolution" to the crisis.
"The situation shows that everyone needs to be vigilant about the use of border areas by terrorist organisations like the Farc," she said following a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
Mr Chavez has dubbed Colombia's actions in Ecuador as a "war crime" and labelled Mr Uribe's government as a "lackey of United States imperialism".