It’s fairly interesting how things are working out in regard to the dispute between Colombia and Ecuador.

1. First, I would say that Colombia has come out of the OAS meeting fairly well, by the looks of things. I say that because, obviously, everyone was going to be upset at the crossing of the Ecuadorean border but, in the end, Colombia has not been condemned for it by the OAS.

2. Colombia has acknowledged that it crossed the Ecuadorean border. I disagree with Ed in that I don’t think this had anything to do with US diplomacy, or anyone else’s. Colombia admitted from the moment the first announcement was made that Reyes was killed inside Ecuador. The Foreign Minister re-admitted it again in a formal statement made Sunday evening in which he apologized. So, it was obvious that Colombia was going to admit it.

3. Given Colombia’s admission, it was therefore remarkable that they have escaped without an OAS condemnation, considering the nature of the OAS which places great importance on national sovereignty.

4. A great deal of credit must go to the Colombian Ambassador at the OAS, Carlos Ospina, who made a brilliant presentation yesterday in his defence of Colombia. It’s a shame if you don’t understand Spanish because it was a remarkable piece of advocacy on behalf of his country. His was the only speech that received an ovation.

5. It is obvious that Ecuador and Venezuela have been caught with their zippers down. Their response has been bluster.

6. One example of where they have been caught out is their contention that the correspondence found on Reyes computers are fakes. Even if that wasn’t just plain silly (given (a)Colombia’s offer to make the computers and their contents available for international inspection and (b)the fact that the armed forces took video of the discovery of the computers, so that continuity of evidence can be established) the fact that the Ecuadorean Security Minister admitted the meeting with Reyes proves the contents of at least one of the letters. This means that,for Colombia to have faked the letters, they must have guessed really well. Ridiculous.

7. Pres. Uribe’s statement yesterday about making a complaint to the International Criminal Court will have to be reconsidered. The FARC are a lot of things but their acts do not meet the definition of “genocide” under the Rome Statute. There are other crimes under the Statute that he might be prosecuted for, but it may be better to go to the International Court of Justice…Venezuela has been in blatant violation of Security Council Resolutions against financing terrorism (Res. 1373) and has (together with Ecuador) been interfereing in Colombia’s internal affairs. This is now on the way to being well established by the documents found on the computer. I suspect that this is one reason why Colombia dodged a condemnation at the OAS; a lot of countries who disagreed with the cross-border incursion also have a lot of problems with Venezuela and Ecuador’s support of the FARC.

8. Finally, I would like to mention a name: Edilso Hernandez Leon. In too many of the news reports about the killing of Reyes and the other FARCs it is mentioned that one Colombian soldier was killed. To the world he may have been just an anonymous Colombian soldier, but he was a real person and his name was Edilson Hernandez Leon. He was a 33 year old professional soldier. He had a loving family, and he was proud to be in the Colombian forces. His family reports how he had a dream that he would participate in taking down either Reyes or “Mono Jojoy”, one of the FARC’s main commanders. He was to be married this July; last Christmas his brother said he should think about leaving the army. Hernandez’ response was that he would leave the service either on pension or in “wooden pyjamas” (meaning a coffin). In the end, it was the latter, but in dong so he accomplished his dream of getting Reyes.

Obviously, I didn’t know the guy, but I wanted to mention this because stories like this are in the papers here all the time. Canadians, Americans and others are rightly proud of their soldiers who do such brave work in Iraq and Afghanistan; but there are also Colombian soldiers, equally brave, who are fighting for their country. And dying. They go into jungles, mountains, rivers and deserts chasing the FARC and a lot get killed. But, like Sol. Hernandez they too are fighting for their country.

In all the mess this week with Chavez, Ecuador and the OAS I just didn’t want it to be forgotten that one real hero died for his country.

Blaise on March 5, 2008 at 7:08 PM