Columbia Attacks FARC on Ecuadorian Soil

On Saturday, the Colombian government launched a raid on a group of FARC guerrillas inside the Ecuadorian border killing 17 FARC members including Raul Reyes, the second highest ranking member of group. This has lead to an intense situation between Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Ecuador sent military troops to patrol the border, while Venezuela sent its own troops to its Colombian border while denouncing the cross-border attack. Colombia then claimed it found documents on a computer taken during the raid that proved Correa had a "relationship and commitments" with the FARC. Correa has denied these allegations.

In reaction to these events, Ecuador decided today to break off diplomatic ties with Colombia. This dissolution of diplomatic relations will not affect trade according to an Ecuadorian ministry spokesperson.

This whole event does little to unite these three countries divided by relations with the US. Colombia's president Uribe has received much criticism from Chavez for working too closely with the US on the war on drugs and other endeavors. Chavez, in true form, said, "we don't want war, but we won't let the Empire or its lap dog president Uribe make us weaker" in reaction to the recent events.

Ecuador, who has typically found itself between the two, should rightfully be upset with Colombia violating Ecuador's territorial sovereignty for an attack on a rebel group that operates in Colombia. However, this will most likely be spun as Correa showing support for the Marxist rebels and hindering Colombia's (and the US's) efforts on the war on terror as well as the war on drugs. We will have to watch for the fallout of these events especially the attempt to substantiate any connection with Correa and the FARC.