(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-05 21:25

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa began a six-nation tour in Peru and Brazil, calling Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a liar who "wanted war." Correa warned that if the attack goes unpunished, "the region will be in danger, because the next victim could be Peru, it could be Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, any one of our countries."

At the moment, it's mostly a war of words, and other nations have tried to keep it that way, although many said Colombia was wrong to send troops into Ecuador. The military assault on Saturday killed 24 guerrillas, including Colombian rebel spokesman Raul Reyes, who was engaged in hostage talks with Venezuela, France and other countries.

US President Bush backed Colombia and accused Chavez of "provocative maneuvers."

Uribe said Chavez should be prosecuted before the International Criminal Court for allegedly financing the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Uribe said documents found in a laptop seized in Reyes' camp showed Venezuela recently made a $300 million payment to the rebels.

Venezuela dismissed the allegations as lies and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said the idea of prosecuting Chavez was "laughable." Justice Minister Ramon Rodiguez Chacin said the hand of Washington was behind Colombia's actions, declaring: "Our enemy is the empire."

Colombia also accused the rebels of trying to make a radioactive dirty bomb, although the documents it shared with reporters do not support that allegation, indicating instead that the rebels discussed the possibility of buying uranium to resell at a profit.

In Brazil, Correa suggested late Tuesday that the Colombian raid was carried out to prevent the liberation of rebel-held hostages. He offered no proof, but agreed with speculation that Reyes was targeted "to prevent a deal for the liberation of the hostages from going forward."

The FARC freed four hostages last week, and Chavez had pledged to try to win freedom for others, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

The rebels said Tuesday that Reyes died "completing a mission to arrange, through President Chavez, a meeting" with French President Nicolas Sarkozy aimed at securing Betancourt's release.

   1 2 3   

   1 2 3