In relation to the events of 1st March 2008 in the north of Ecuador, we declare that:
Ecuador has suffered a serious aggression by the Uribe government with the incursion of the Colombian armed forces into Ecuadorean territory in order to massacre Colombian guerrillas. In this most recent operation Raul Reyes and 19 FARC guerrillas were brutally assassinated in an action that we strongly condemn and lament.
We denounce the the fact that the Colombian government has carried out a series of incursions into Ecuadorean territory, which are causing serious damage in the northern frontier zone of Ecuador. On the one hand there are grave political, economic, cultural and environmental consequences, not only for the Ecuadorean people, but also for the Colombians, as a result of aerial fumigation by the Colombian government. On the other, the forced involvement of Ecuadorean frontier communities in the military conflict puts at risk the lives and the human rights of women, indigenous people and children in the area every time the Colombian army carries out military operations against the FARC.
We reject all these actions carried out by the Uribe government in total disregard for the sovereignty of Ecuador, in order to restore and extend its own military control and the intervention of the US government, which aims to recover its geopolitical domination by increasing Colombian state terrorism against Ecuador and Venezuela, as well as through its espionage activities in Bolivia and the promotion of pro-imperialist, separatist autonomies. At the same time we denounce and reject all of the Bush administration’s attempts at destabilization against progressive governments and the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.
We support the measures taken by the governments of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Rafael Correa in Ecuador to break off diplomatic relations with Colombia and to prevent the increasing militarization of the Uribe government, which has the underlying objective of blocking the advance of the Bolivarian revolution and the struggles of resistance by the peoples of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador against the neo-liberal model.
We demand that the Uribe government respects and does not block the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages through a humanitarian exchange initiated by the FARC.
We call on the FARC to release all those it holds who are not prisoners of war.
We believe that in order to restore diplomatic relations the government of Rafael Correa should demand that the Colombian government assumes responsibility for the destruction caused in the region, commits itself to making no further violations of Ecuadorean territory and to a complete cessation of aerial spraying.
We express our solidarity with the mobilization for peace and sovereignty on 6th March called in solidarity with the Colombian people by social and human rights movements in various parts of the world, demanding peace and an investigation into the deaths and disappearances of all those affected by paramilitary activities and the war in Colombia.
Fourth International, 5 March 2008