Colombian President Álvaro Uribe asked Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos to stay after the two and Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez met to discuss the unrest that occurred after rash remarks by Santos caused the rage of Venezuela and Ecuador.
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe met with Santos and Bermúdez Wednesday after Santos again
had ignored earlier orders and had caused the anger of Venezuela and
Ecuador by defending attacks on terrorists abroad and the military top demanded a security council without discussing this with the Presidency.
Uribe, in the process of trying to improve relations with Venezuela after the March 1, 2008 attack on a FARC camp in Ecuador, Tuesday was forced to again tell Santos to not speak about matters that involve the country’s neighbors.
The public correction was reason for the country’s top military chiefs to openly call for a security council meeting to define what exactly is the policy in dealing with attacks from illegal armed groups that operate in the border areas of Colombia. Uribe rejected this request and called his Ministers for a meeting instead.
The call for a security council meeting had not been communicated with the Presidency beforehand, causing obvious inconvenience for the President and distorted relations within the cabinet. The meeting between the President and his two ministers was to end this.
After the meeting, Uribe publicly voiced his support for his Defense Minister and asked him to stay to continue his “successful task of restoring security in Colombia”.
The Presidency later reiterated that Colombia still respects the agreements made at teh Rio Summit in 2008 to not unilaterally attack a country.