Ecuadorian vice-Minister of Defense Miguel Carvajal said
on Thursday that his country will have “zero tolerance” for incursions
by the Colombian military or other armed groups into Ecuadorian
territories.
Carvajal said that since early November, Ecuador has had security problems at its northern border with Colombia.
The vice-Minister cited a recent incursion by
Colombian paramilitaries, a guerrilla attack and the violation of
Ecuadorian air space by a Colombian military helicopter.
Carvajal questioned how the
Colombian military intelligence could fail to find leaders of irregular
groups when even journalists have interviewed them.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa
on the same day authorized Ecuadorian soldiers to repel any attack from
Colombian armed groups.
Ecuador broke diplomatic ties with
Colombia on March 3, 2008, two days after Colombian army raided a
Colombian rebel camp in Ecuador without notifying its southern neighbor.
During that raid, the Colombian
military killed FARC commander Raúl Reyes and 25 others in the zone of Angostura in Sucumbios
province near the borders between the two countries. (Xinhua)