President of Colombia defends cross-border raid

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombia’s president says he repeatedly asked Ecuador to deal with Colombian rebels operating from its territory before he ordered the cross-border raid that has set off an international crisis.

The fallout is mounting: Venezuela threatened to slash trade and nationalize Colombian-owned businesses. Venezuela and Ecuador have sent troops to their borders with Colombia. And on Thursday, Nicaragua broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia.

Latin American foreign ministers met in the Dominican Republican in hopes of finding a way to calm the region’s tensest flare-up in years, and the presidents of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and at least nine other nations were flying in to join them.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s defense of his actions came during a three-hour session with news media representatives Wednesday night but his office did not authorize release of his comments until Thursday.

The conservative leader expressed frustration at what he called inaction by Ecuador’s leftist government over Colombian guerrilla camps in its territory.

“What does one do when bandits are shooting from the other side, and the government doesn’t do anything?” Uribe asked. “It’s my job to defend 43 million Colombians.”

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa retorted that by Uribe’s logic, other Latin American countries would have to launch strikes in Colombia because of alleged ties between some officials and drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitaries.

“They wouldn’t just have to bomb the Colombian jungle, but Colombia’s parliament and senate, and probably its Narino House (presidential palace), where paramilitaries and drug traffickers apparently hide,” Correa said.

Earlier, Correa said his troops have raided dozens of rebel camps, but Colombian officials say the guerrillas are always tipped off so they can escape. Uribe said he didn’t notify Correa of Saturday’s attack because “I was sure that the operation would have failed.”

Uribe said the raid was the sixth since his 2002 election that was aimed at Raul Reyes, a top leader in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Reyes was one of the 24 people killed.

Uribe refused to rule out more military incursions into Ecuador or Venezuela, saying he first needs assurances from Correa and his Venezuelan ally, leftist President Hugo Chavez, that they are not harboring rebels.

But Uribe stressed that he doesn’t want war with any of his neighbors.

Venezuela and Ecuador have each sent thousands of soldiers to their borders with Colombia, but Uribe repeated that he won’t mobilize troops from Colombia’s army, which is bigger than both of his neighbors’ combined.