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Latin leaders shake hands
08/03/2008 09:39 - (SA)
Santo Domingo - The presidents of
Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela ended a border dispute on
Friday with a summit handshake after a week of regional
diplomacy in the face of hostile rhetoric and troop build-ups.
"And with this ... this incident that has caused so much
damage (is) resolved," leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael
Correa said before standing up and shaking hands with his
US-backed conservative Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had blamed the United
States for the crisis as he sent tanks to the border with
Colombia, joined in shaking Uribe's hand and applauded loudly
and smiled.
The dispute erupted last Saturday when Colombia raided
inside Ecuador to kill a rebel leader.
It resolution brought
the summit to a surprise ending after bitter exchanges,
including Correa calling Uribe a liar.
Apology
The accord came after Uribe apologised to Correa under
pressure from governments across the region, which worked to
prevent the crisis escalating into Latin America's first armed
conflict among states in more than a decade.
The dispute had spread across the region with leftist
allies Venezuela and Nicaragua joining Ecuador in cutting
relations with Colombia, while Venezuela and Ecuador sent
troops to their borders against the strongest US ally in the
region.
Uribe also moved to meet another Correa demand,
guaranteeing Colombia would not make similar raids if his
neighbours cooperated in the fight against the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The resolution was a diplomatic victory for Latin America,
whose governments from Mexico to Brazil managed the crisis by
emphasising negotiations and took advantage of their previously
scheduled summit to force the sides to talk.
Still, the crisis exposed a left-right rift and sparked
controversies that could dog the leaders even if their tough
stances in the crisis generally bolstered their support at
home.
Uribe, popular for a US-financed military offensive
against the guerrillas, had said Chavez and Correa supported
"terrorists" and they dragged up old accusations he was
friendly with paramilitary drug traffickers.
Public gesture
The summit host, Dominican Republic President Leonel
Fernandez, engineered the handshakes, broadcast live on
television across Latin America, by appealing to the leaders to
make the public gesture.
"This summit was a gift from God," Chavez said. "We are all
happy. Peace! ... we must unite and integrate."
Uribe, who for years had maintained a generally warm
relationship with his ideological opposite, recalled that
friendship before ending the dispute.
The regional leaders reached the accord only days after the
Organisation of American States, the Western Hemisphere's top
diplomatic body, failed to resolve the dispute as Washington
backed an otherwise isolated Uribe.
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