ECUADOR: OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza arrives in Quito to investigate Andean crisis

Record ID: 791732

  • Title: ECUADOR: OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza arrives in Quito to investigate Andean crisis
  • Date: 10th March 2008
  • Summary: ECUADORIAN FLAG EXTERIOR OF PALACE
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ecuador
  • Country: Ecuador
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9QON7T5TPSYHBI98T29KFXG91
  • Story Text: OAS fact-finding mission arrives in Ecuador to investigate Colombian bombing of FARC-camp that killed rebels and several Mexicans.
    The Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) arrived in Ecuador on Sunday (March 9) to investigate the Andean conflict which heightened tensions between Colombia and Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
    Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza accompanied a fact-finding mission and met with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.
    The meeting comes after Ecuador and Venezuela resolved a week-long crisis over a Colombian military raid against guerrillas hiding in Ecuador.
    Leftist-led allies Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela cut ties with Colombia and condemned the raid, which killed more than 20 guerrillas. Ecuador and Venezuela also sent troops to their borders with Colombia.
    But at Friday's (March 7) regional Rio Summit in the Dominican Republic, all three leaders shook hands and agreed to move beyond the conflict.
    Nicaragua and Venezuela announced they would re-establish ties but Ecuador said it needed a bit more time.
    Correa said the fact-finding mission is appropriate, even after the Rio handshake.
    "We overcame the conflict, the tension between the two countries, but it's necessary that even the last detail of what really happened be known," he said. "So I insist that the role of the Chancellor's Commission and Assembly is extremely important."
    Up to 10 Mexicans-- possibly students and professors-- may have died in the bombing on the rebel base.
    Ecuador's Foreign Minister Gustavo Larrea said he supported an investigation of their presence at the camp and of their deaths.
    "There are for Mexican citizens who arrived in the area on the 29th and died the morning of the 1st and they had return tickets to Quito on the 2nd and some had tickets to return to Mexico on the 5th and others on the 10th," he said. "We suspect that we're dealing with a visit, a completely deplorable thing but a visit nonetheless and they died doing that," he said.
    The Mexican's presence at the cap sparked speculation in Mexico and Colombia that FARC rebels have a support organization in Mexico. But other reports said the Mexicans who may have died in the camp were there to study the FARC.
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