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DE RUEHQT #0264/01 0742102
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FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8631
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RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3870
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id: 145990
date: 3/14/2008 21:02
refid: 08QUITO264
origin: Embassy Quito
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 08QUITO263
header:
VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #0264/01 0742102
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 142102Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8631
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 7444
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3870
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 2951
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR LIMA 2487
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 1771
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 3407
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL


----------------- header ends ----------------

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000264 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2018 
TAGS: PREL MOPS PTER PGOV EC CO SP
SUBJECT: ECUADOR: GOE OFFICIALS URGE COOPERATION WHILE 
CORREA INCREASES RHETORIC 
 
REF: A. QUITO 263 
 
     ¶B. QUITO 251 
     ¶C. QUITO 248 
 
Classified By: DCM Jefferson Brown for Reasons 1.4 (b&d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  In a series of meetings and phone calls, 
MFA and MOD officials have sought to maintain positive 
bilateral relations with the U.S. as well as to communicate 
GOE efforts against the FARC (see also reftels).  The GOE 
also launched a media campaign to deny and counter continued 
accusations of GOE ties to the FARC.  Military cooperation at 
the local level and joint exercise planning continues despite 
Ecuadorian-Colombian tensions.  Meanwhile, President Correa 
responded to accusations of FARC ties with aggressive 
rhetoric directed at Colombia, the U.S. and Spain.  (End 
Summary) 
 
MFA Conversations with Embassy and Anti-FARC Press Statement 
 
¶2.  (C) The Ambassador called the Foreign Minister on March 
14 to discuss the upcoming OAS ministerial.  FM Salvador was 
participating in a lengthy cabinet meeting and therefore not 
available, so Vice Foreign Minister Jose Valencia took the 
call.  The Ambassador highlighted the fact that the USG had 
not mentioned Ecuador in public statements over the past two 
days, since Department Spokesman McCormack,s statement of 
March 11, as an indication of our efforts to lower the tone 
publicly and focus on constructive approaches to the way 
ahead.  She noted that it would be helpful for the GOE to 
take the same approach in terms of public rhetoric.  Valencia 
agreed.  He lamented President Correa's recent rhetoric, 
which he acknowledged was unhelpful. He said the GOE 
recognizes that it would not be practical to have a 
multinational peacekeeping body along the Colombian border. 
He thought the OAS should instead establish some type of 
observer mission along the border.  Valencia expressed the 
GOE's hope that the OAS observer mission would recognize what 
was really happening along Ecuador's northern border and how 
hard the GOE was trying in the fight against the FARC, noting 
that the GOE had issued a press bulletin condemning the FARC. 
 
¶3.  (C) Under Secretary of Bilateral Affairs Diego Stacey 
called the DCM earlier on March 14 to highlight that fact 
that the GOE had issued stronger statements against the FARC. 
 He also voiced regret over President Correa's recent 
rhetoric, explaining that it responded to pressure from 
domestic leftist groups. 
 
¶4.  (U) The press bulletin issued by the MFA on March 13 
states that "the members of irregular Colombian groups such 
as the FARC, the paramilitaries, or criminal organizations 
dedicated to narco-trafficking cannot be allowed to operate 
within Ecuador, as they violate national law, and Ecuador 
recognizes the Colombian government as the only, legitimate 
political representative of Colombia."  It also states that 
"all individuals or groups of individuals that are found 
illegally in Ecuadorian territory will be detained and at the 
disposition of Ecuadorian judicial authority, or repelled by 
force if they resist." 
 
Correa Increases Rhetoric 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On March 13, President Correa spoke to a gathering 
of several hundred demonstrating students in support of 
Correa's foreign policy, some carrying banners and shouting 
anti-Colombia and anti-U.S. slogans such as "yanquis fuera" 
(Yankees go home).  Reacting to comments by the USG from 
prior to March 12, as well as to an article appearing in the 
Spanish newspaper El Pais that accused the GOE of ties to the 
FARC, Correa decried what he considered unfounded charges and 
insinuations.  He said that Ecuador was an unwilling victim 
of Colombia,s problem, and he facetiously challenged both 
the U.S. and Spain to send troops to patrol Colombia's 
southern border if Colombia is not up to the job itself.  On 
the evening of March 13, Correa repeated similar comments. 
He accused the USG and Colombia of a media campaign in its 
accusations of GOE ties to the FARC. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The GOE has launched a campaign to refute the 
accusations of FARC association.  Defense Minister Wellington 
Sandoval and Secretary of Public Administration Vinicio 
 
Alvarado held a press conference on March 13 to deny any GOE 
association with the FARC and explain the GOE's efforts 
against the FARC.  The MFA released the above referenced 
press bulletin the same day. 
 
Military to Military Relations Continue 
 
¶7.  (C) Despite the exchange of barbs, Ecuador, Colombia and 
the U.S. continue to pursue the planning of "TRIDENT", a 
Coast Guard-sponsored trilateral maritime exercise to combat 
the littoral flow of drugs, a result of the November 2007 
trilateral maritime counter drug conference in Guayaquil, 
Ecuador.  On March 10, JIATF-South hosted Quito country team 
members and Ecuadorian representative and Colombian Navy reps 
for the second planning session for the exercise, where all 
behaved cordially and professionally.  The planning group is 
expecting an answer by March 25 from the GOE and GOC on 
whether the exercise will be conducted as planned on May 
1-30.  Separately, USG reps who met with local battalion 
commanders on both sides of the Colombian border were told 
that bilateral information sharing has continued as usual. 
Minister Sandoval also publicly said that the GOE planned to 
reconstitute the Binational Border Commission (COMBIFRON), a 
binational military-to-military coordination mechanism, while 
noting that rebuilding trust would be a long-term process. 
Jewell 

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