[mobglob-discuss] Colombian Army invades Ecuadorean territory!

[Claudio Ekdahl.]

Colombian Army invades Ecuadorean territory

A group of 70 soldiers from the Colombian Army entered violently in 
Ecuadorean territory. "We're going to increase the patrolling in this area 
and we're not going to allow our national sovereignty to be violated", said 
Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Cabezas, commander of the 55th Jungle Battalion of 
Putumayo, Ecuador.

30.09.2004 [ANNCOL/ALTERCOM, Ecuador] For the second time in a few days the 
territorial integrity of Ecuador has been violated. According to the locals 
of the northern border zone, Colombian government troops clearly violate 
Ecuadorean sovereignty by entering Ecuador in order to operate against 
Colombian guerrilla forces.

Thus the warnings made during the last many years by the Ecuadorean social 
forces concerning the US strategy of regionalising the internal conflict of 
the neighbouring country in a military way, the "Plan Colombia", have come 
true.

So, on Wednesday the 8th of September a group of 70 men from the Colombian 
Army entered violently in Ecuadorean territory, according to information 
printed by the Ecuadorean newspaper "Diario El Comercio de Quito" on the 
10th of September.

According to the testimonies of various farmers from the Ecuadorean border 
town Buena Vista, the foreign soldiers came around 10 am on Wednesday the 
8th of September, violently breaking into and searching farms. They detained 
5 young men for further questioning. "They held me for hours and asked me if 
I knew where the Colombian guerrilla fighters are", said one of the five.

After intervention by the local community, the Colombian soldiers set the 
detained ones free at 6 pm the same day. According to the farmers the 
Colombian Army set up a temporal camp on the Ecuadorean beaches of the 
Putumayo river. "They said they wanted to confront the Ecuadorean Army and 
punish them for being allies of the guerrilla", informed one of the farmers.

Because of the serious situation on Thursday the 9th of September, an 
Ecuadorean military patrol from the 55th Jungle Battalion of Putumayo 
arrived, for the first time, at 4 pm to Buena Vista.

Two battalion commanders who were in charge of the patrol listened to the 
testimonials of the inhabitants concerning the previous night's combat 
between Colombian soldiers and guerrilla fighters. They also received 
accusations that "the Colombian army responded with an aerial attack from 
the Ecuadorian farms. The helicopters crossed the border and fired from our 
properties".

Because of these accusations the Ecuadorean army organised a patrol of the 
riverbanks in order to uncover the bases of the Colombian military. "We are 
going to increase the patrols in this zone and we will not allow our 
national sovereignty to be violated", said the Lieutenant Colonel Pedro 
Cabezas, commander of 55th Jungle Battalion of Putumayo.

The Lieutenant Colonel sent a notice to Captain Julio Chavarro, operational 
officer at the Colombian Southern Naval Base, containing the request that 
the Colombian military "avoid crossing the Ecuadorian borders, in order to 
maintain the good relations with the [Ecuadorian] army as well as with the 
border population".

This preoccupying situation is a result of the denouncement presented on the 
4th of September by the inhabitants of the Ecuadorean river town San Miguel, 
in which they report to have been threatened on their lives by Colombian 
paramilitaries. They mention the massacre on the 18th of August in the 
Guadalito area in Colombia.

"This massacre was announced beforehand and took place a few kilometres from 
our border in a heavily militarised zone where the Colombian Army's Plan 
Vial Energetico Battalion No.11 with approximately 1500 units operates, and 
where there also live 2000 families. The Colombian military forces did not 
offer any type of protection. The only thing they did was to offer support 
to the murderers".

Furthermore they note that on the 20th of August the news on the Putumayo 
broadcasting station, belonging to the Colombian radio station RCN, 
published the persistent rumours of "an imminent massacre in the Puerto 
Nuevo area in Ecuador, which were to be carried out one of the following 
days by Colombian paramilitaries".

[Translation: Jon Skjerning-Rasmussen]

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