Colombia sparks stand-off after killing rebel boss

Published on Monday 3 March 2008 21:13

VENEZUELA and Ecuador ordered troops to their borders with Colombia yesterday, as a stand-off intensified after Colombia killed a top rebel leader on Ecuadorian soil.

Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, ordered tanks as well as thousands of troops to the border at the weekend, warning that it would respond if Colombia violated its territory. He closed Venezuela's embassy in Bogot.

Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, yesterday deployed troops while withdrawing the country's ambassador from Bogot and expelling Colombia's top diplomat.

"There is no justification," Mr Correa said, snubbing a Colombian offer to apologise.

Mr Chavez called the killing of Raul Reyes and 16 guerrillas an attack by a "terrorist state" and said it showed that Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian president, was a "criminal" acting for the United States empire.

Mr Correa said Colombia deliberately carried out the strike beyond its borders, flying deep into Ecuador to bomb the rebel camp from the south. The Ecuadorian leader said the rebels were "bombed and massacred as they slept, using precision technology".

The Colombian military said the camp was located only just over a mile from the border.

Officials said documents from a computer seized where Reyes was killed suggested Mr Correa has a deepening relationship with the Farc guerrillas.

France said yesterday that Reyes, the rebel commander, was its key contact in negotiations aimed at winning the release of the French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt.

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said: "It is bad news that the man we were talking to, with whom we had contacts, has been killed. Do you see how ugly the world is?"