- Title: COLOMBIA: Colombia says it has found FARC camps in Ecuador
- Date: 7th October 2009
- Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 06, 2009) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF COLOMBIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY COLOMBIAN DEFENCE MINISTER GABRIEL SILVA AND COLOMBIAN POLICE CHIEF OSCAR NARANJO IN NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, GABRIEL SILVA, SAYING: "I want to inform you all that in the coming days, under instruction from the president, I will provide precise information to the Ecuadorean defence minister about camps the FARC has in the country. We hope that this information will lead to concrete action, which we are sure is what President Correa and all his government wants." GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SILVA, SAYING: "All countries, any especially neighbouring countries should commit for their own good to the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and transnational crime groups." CAMERA CREW WORKING SILVA AND NARANJO LEAVING CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Colombia
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA88RMOCLBJQ683VCU8ZA8QT8Z6
- Story Text: Colombia says it has identified several rebel camps of the FARC guerrilla group over the border in neighbouring Ecuador and expects "concrete action" on the matter.
Colombia said on Tuesday (October 6) it has evidence that Marxist rebels are camped in neighbouring Ecuador and is asking leftist President Rafael Correa to crack down on the drug-running guerrillas.
Colombia has long suspected that Correa and Venezuela's leftist leader Hugo Chavez have turned a blind eye to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, whose fighters have often hidden in neighbouring countries.
"I want to inform you all that in the coming days, under instruction from the president, I will provide precise information to the Ecuadorean defence minister about camps the FARC has in the country. We hope that this information will lead to concrete action, which we are sure is what President Correa and all his government wants," Colombian Defence Minister Gabriel Silva told reporters in Bogota.
Silva said that recent statements from Ecuador saying that it will not tolerate the presence of illegal armed groups are "a very positive sign."
"All countries, any especially neighbouring countries should commit for their own good to the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and transnational crime groups," Silva said.
Ecuador and Colombia are in talks aimed at reestablishing diplomatic ties severed by Ecuador last year after Colombia's conservative President Alvaro Uribe ordered the bombing of a FARC rebel camp on Ecuador's side of the border. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None