Tuesday, April 01, 2008

More on Ecuador

Ecuador is taking the border fumigation conflict with Colombia to the International Court of Justice, and has an international group of lawyers to make its case. The two countries had created commissions last year but they had not reached any agreements. This has, however, been a bone of contention for years, as chemicals don’t respect borders, and chemicals are an integral aspect of Plan Colombia.

The complaint has three elements:

First, to declare that Colombia violated Ecuadorian sovereignty

Second, to order Colombia in the future to stop fumigation at least ten kilometers from the border

Third, to order Colombia to pay reparations

This is a good move for Rafael Correa, especially since the Colombian government keeps putting out info from the laptops, all of which is juicy but unverified. So this serves to put Colombia back on the defensive. Combined with the Ecuadorian helicopter going into Colombian airspace, it’s a message to both Alvaro Uribe and to the Ecuadorian people.

1 comments:

Tambopaxi 3:14 PM  

Just saw this posting. Re: The ICC demanda, the only surprise is that Correa didn't file this before with the Court.

Given the nature of the complaint and the Court itself, it'll probably take years before there's even a preliminary decision which the GOC will most likely ignore; I just can't see them acceding to the wishes of Ecuador. They've got the same sovereignty that Ecuador likes to tout.

The FAE helicopter that blundered into Colombian territory was a little unarmed Gazelle that was intercepted by two FAC Blackhawk gunships. They ordered the Gazelle to land at Tumaco, but the Gazelle went for the deck and made it back across the border. The Blackhawks could have shot it down, but I think everyone's glad they didn't; we don't need any more rancor than there is now...

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