Colombia Passport

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador continues his strong words against Colombia, while increases the military forces at the border. Correa said in University of La Habana, in an official visit to Cuba, that the Colombian government wants to put conditions to his country to reestablish diplomatic relations.Correa insisted that Colombia does not respect the sovereignty of Ecuador when the Colombian army bombed on 1rst March 2008 a Farc camp that was settled at the south of the Putumayo river, the natural border between the two countries. The issue caused a rupture among the relations between Quito and Bogotá that still unresolved.

Last December, the Colombian government announced that Ecuador should cooperate more in the security of the border with Colombia in order to avoid the incursions of Farc guerrillas in its territory. It caused a strong speech of President Correa in the national television saying that Colombia was putting conditions when it was the one that violated the sovereignty of Ecuador.

By the new year, about 10 thousand Ecuadorian soldiers were settled at the Colombian border with the support of 24 warplanes.  Ecuador put in action a Chinese radar to vigil the border. According to Quito, the increase of military forces in the border is to prevent any incursion of Farc guerrillas and even Colombian military groups. Although the Farc never has attacked any Ecuadorian military unit, Quito said that is ready to follow a strong persecution on them if they dare to enter the Ecuadorian soil. However, Ecuador avoids to call Farc as a terrorist group. The government said also that along the last years the Ecuadorian army has destroyed Farc camps in its territory.

Colombia at its southwest, has a border with Ecuador of 364.74 miles. More than 80% of the border is on the Amazon forest and divided by the Putumayo river, where was the Colombian bomb on the Farc camp on March 2008. The rest of the border is on the Andean range where is the international gate of Romichaca Bridge between Ipiales-Colombia and Tulcán-Ecuador, along the Panamerican Road. Another part of the border, more at the Wests, is on the Pacific plain. The southern border of Colombia has been a heaven for guerrillas and mafias that use to take refuge in those regions covered by the forest. However, the Peruvian army has a strict presence in its border with Colombia and it has fought the Farc guerrilla, preventing it to use the Peruvian territory, something that has not been proven with Ecuador, Brazil and Venezuela.