opinion

The invasion of Ecuador
by the Colombia Support Network

The Colombia Support Network (CSN) registers its total disagreement with the Bush administration’s support of the Uribe administration’s violation of Ecuadorian territory to kill members of the FARC guerrillas located at a provisional camp nearly one mile inside the Ecuadorian border. It is clear that Colombian forces were not “in hot pursuit” of FARC guerrillas in response to a FARC attack, as President Uribe falsely told President Rafael Correa of Ecuador after the fact of the Colombian attack inside Ecuador.

It is clear that the Colombian government violated international law with its cross-border attack, as virtually all the other governments in South America have recognized. The other countries in the region had expressed their solidarity with the Ecuadorian government.

We are concerned that the Bush administration by approving President Uribe’s breach of international law may be attempting to promote controversy between Colombia and its neighbors, to impede economic and political integration of the South American countries and to curtail socialist experiments in the region such as those in Venezuela. Ecuador has refused to extend the term for the US military base in Manta.

We reject the doctrine of pre- emptive strikes across national borders. The US government should consider how it would feel if its doctrines applied to acts of other countries were applied to this country.

We welcome the good faith attempt to resolve issues peacefully which was evidenced at the Latin American leaders meeting in Santo Domingo last week.

We call upon the US Congress and the presidential candidates to renounce Bush interventionist doctrines, which are leading our country toward being considered an international pariah. We call upon them to express their disapproval of Colombia’s violation of Ecuadorian sovereignty.