Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Thursday it is “almost certain” that the FARC carried out an attack in the on the Colombia-Ecuador border region on Wednesday, in which nine Ecuadoreans and a Colombian were killed.
“Don’t play with Ecuadorean lives,” Correa told the FARC during an interview with Canal Uno. He said there was “very little” information on the attack but that authorities were investigating the deaths, which occurred on Ecuador’s side of the border on Wednesday.
Correa met Monday with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe during a summit in Mexico. It was the heads of states’ first meeting since diplomatic relations were broken in March 2008.
During the summit Uribe and Correa set out topics of discussion that their nations need to jointly address and formed a “Commission on sensitive subjects” to address bones of contention between the two countries.
Furthermore, both countries declared that a three-way meeting between the two governments and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees should take place to resolve the situation of displaced Colombian citizens living across the Ecuadorean border.
Finally, the two countries agreed that their military forces located along the border will meet to discuss solutions to combating the presence of illegal armed groups in the region. It was the presence of these groups that created diplomatic discord in the first place.
Ecuador broke off relations with Colombia following the Colombian incursion into Ecuadorean territory while pursuing guerrillas on March 1, 2008. FARC leader “Raul Reyes” and 26 others, including an Ecuadorean, were killed in the raid, which Ecuador viewed as undermining its sovereignty.
Colombia accused Correa’s government of links with the FARC due to evidence allegedly found on Raul Reyes’ computer.
Both countries accused the other of failing to police the border region, which was plagued by illegal armed groups with links to drug trafficking. Relations between two countries began to improve after talks in September last year.
