The rift began with a March Colombian military strike against a rebel camp on Ecuador’s side of the border. Ecuador broke diplomatic relations over the bombing raid, in which a Colombian rebel leader was killed.Left-wing Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who has clashed with Colombia’s conservative leader, Alvaro Uribe, said over the weekend that his country was aggrieved by Colombia’s actions throughout the dispute and that Ecuador would be the one to set a timetable for reestablishing relations.The countries were set to renew ties this week at the level of charges d’affaires in a deal brokered by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.”But the recent statements by President Correa have closed the possibility of advancing this process,” Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araújo said in a statement to Colombian W radio.In a response to the “inconsistency and incoherence” of the Colombian Government, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister María Isabel Salvador said Ecuador wouldn’t renew diplomatic ties at all.”They are talking about postponing the decision. We have taken the decision not to restore relations with Colombia,” Salvador said on a press conference.Ecuador doesn’t rule out commercial restrictions to a possible renewal of diplomatic ties.The Organization of American States (OAS) on Tuesday called on both sides to stop making public statements of a distancing nature and get on with restoring ties. OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza announced he will travel to Bogotá and Quito in the coming days to meet “with the highest authorities of both governments” to resume the dialogue.Colombia says computer files found in the destroyed rebel camp show that Ecuador and Venezuela had secret ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, a charge both countries deny.
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