MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chavez “happy” wirh regional summit and urges Latam unity

Correa and Chavez happy with the final crisis

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said the “happy” end to the regional crisis with Colombia should boost unity in Latin America.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said the "happy" end to the regional crisis with Colombia should boost unity in Latin America. "This summit was a gift from God," he was quoted by Reuters as saying after shaking hands with his Colombian and Ecuadorean counterparts at a summit. There were heated exchanges at the Rio Group summit of Latin American leaders in Dominican Republic that had originally been planned to discuss energy and other issues. But the crisis became the worst political spat in the region for years. Venezuela and Ecuador cut diplomatic ties with Bogota and sent troops to their borders after the Colombian operation which left 20 Farc rebels dead. Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, who had also broken off diplomatic ties with Colombia, said they would be re-established after the presidents shook hands. The handshakes were broadcast live on television across Latin America in response to a special request from the summit's host, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez. "We are all happy," Mr Chavez said afterwards. "Peace! We must unite and integrate." Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe had clashed at the opening of the summit. Mr Correa condemned Colombia's "aggression", while Mr Uribe accused his opposite number of having links with the Farc rebels. The Colombian president said he had not warned Ecuador before the raid because Mr Correa had not co-operated in the fight against terrorism. He also claimed material seized in the operation proved links between Mr Correa's government and the rebels. Mr Correa rejected the claims, saying his hands were not "stained with blood". He admitted there had been communications with Farc, but only because his government was trying to secure the release of hostages held by the rebels, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. But before shaking hands, to applause from the summit delegates, Mr Correa said: "With the commitment of never attacking a brother country again and by asking forgiveness, we can consider this very serious incident resolved." Nevertheless Ecuador is not yet ready to re-establish diplomatic relations with Colombia despite a recent agreement to end a diplomatic crisis triggered by a Colombian raid inside Ecuador, President Rafael Correa said Saturday. The restoration of diplomatic relations «will take a little time,» Correa said in his weekly radio address. «We will coordinate with Venezuela in setting up a timeline for re-establishing our ambassadors in Bogota,» Correa said. He explained that it will be «difficult to recover trust» in Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's government, but that «we will converse and move forward.