Attack on the Border

By the disposition of officials in the Colombian border town of Ipiales early on Saturday, March 1, one never would have guessed what happened only hours earlier, roughly 200 km south, near the Ecuadorian town of Angostura.

Few soldiers patrolled the border, and the atmosphere was completely free of tension. The immigration agent on the Colombian side took longer than usual to stamp my passport while he talked to a friend on the telephone. Groups of young adults dressed in black with Iron Maiden armbands waited to return home to Ecuador the day after the concert in Bogota. Vendors sold coffee to weary travelers waiting in line to get their passports stamped in the early morning light.

Across the bridge in Tulcán, Ecuador, the mood was similar. Money-changers crowded around to change pesos to dollars, and swarms of bus drivers fought to get me onto a bus bound for Quito. I ate a traditional Ecuadorian breakfast in a café nearby with the concert goers and a Japanese tourist they also took under their wing. The narcotics officer who boarded the bus checked identification and sent the bus on its way in less then five minutes.

There was no sign that at approximately 6:30 a.m., the Colombian army violated Ecuador’s sovereignty when they crossed 2.7 km over the border to kill Raul Reyes, the spokesman and second in command of las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).

Everything was tranquilo.

However, the situation in South America, only a few days after the attack, is less than calm. Ecuador has removed its ambassador from Colombia, asked Colombia’s ambassador to leave Quito, and sent 3,200 additional troops to the border. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez declared that Colombia’s actions could be the start of a war in South America. He also implicated the United States in the attack and sent roughly 6,000 troops to the Venezuelan/Colombian border.

In a meeting of the Organization of the American States (OAS) on March 4, in Washington D.C., Colombia’s ambassador, Camilo Ospina, denied that Colombia violated Ecuadorian airspace as previously thought, but admitted that Colombian helicopters entered the camp after the attack. Though he asked for forgiveness for the violation of sovereignty, Ospina put more emphasis on documents supposedly discovered on computers recovered in the attack that show Chávez sent $300 million in aid to FARC. In a firm voice Ospina also condemned Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa for not working harder to expel "terrorists" from his country.

However, tensions are not limited to discussions between governments. At an international oil company’s office in Quito, an Ecuadorian employee commented, "The guerilla has arrived," as his Colombian co-worker arrived to the office the day after the attack. YouTube clips of Chávez’s comments are followed by Colombians, Ecuadorians, and Venezuelans calling names and fighting over which is worse: the violation of sovereignty, funding supposed terrorists, allowing FARC to operate in ones country, or following orders from the United States of America.

While some OAS countries call for diplomatic resolution, others see no alternative but war. If Ecuador does not maintain a hard line, the country leaves itself open to being taken advantage of in the future. Colombia sees the need to seek out FARC guerillas wherever they may be hiding. Venezuela is rallying support in its fight against, in the words of Chávez, the "U.S. empire" who he believes was involved in the attack.

In Quito, the weather is overcast, mimicking the state of South American politics. The continent seems to be dividing. But in Quito, the buses are still running, the people are still going to work, and me, I’m not going anywhere soon.