Ecuador’s foreign minister took distance from a regional court’s order to arrest six high Colombian security officials for the 2008 cross-border attack in which FARC commander “Raul Reyes” and 25 others were killed.
Minister Ricardo Patiño told reporters his government “respects” the “independent” jurisdiction of the judicial branch, but will not follow up on the Sucumbius state court order to arrest Colombia’s police chief Oscar Naranjo and five former officials.
The court wants to prosecute the Colombian (former) security officials for murder, because the killing of the FARC commander and other suspected guerrilla suspects was not authoritized by the competent Ecuadorean authorities.
Following the attack on March 1 2008, Ecuador broke off all diplomatic relations, but Quito and Bogota have been restoring these ties since September 2009.
