Ecuadorean President Visits Border War Zone

President Sixto Duran-Ballen flew Thursday to the war front on the disputed jungle border with Peru as both sides reported heavy fighting and more casualties.

Duran-Ballen, whose popularity has surged in Ecuador because of the war, visited military staging areas and army field hospitals.

“I repeat now what I told one of the young men who was at the front: `We will not take one step back,”’ the president told a cheering crowd after his return to the capital.

Peruvian and Ecuadorean army patrols clashed repeatedly Thursday, and Peruvian warplanes attacked Coangos and Base Sur, two Ecuadorean border posts at the headwaters of Cenepa River, Ecuador’s military command said.