MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuador Colombia relations back in the cold and trade threats

Ecuador will not resume diplomatic ties with Colombia after the latter decided to postpone renewal of relations, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Isabel Salvador announced this week in Quito.

"They have talked about postponing the decision, we have made the decision not to resume relations with Colombia," Salvador told reporters without saying how long the rupture will last. "If the situation does not improve" especially Colombia's stance towards Ecuador, "we do not rule out the eventual possibility of imposing trade restrictions" Salvador added. Previously the Colombian government had decided to postpone the reestablishment of diplomatic ties with Ecuador because of "aggressive" and "offensive" remarks by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa in a recent newspaper interview. Correa told Pagina 12 that for a full re-establishment of ties, his government would demand that the Colombian attack "be fully clarified," and said that "the bombs (used) were American". He added that Ecuador would be the one to set a timetable for re-establishing relations. Correa and his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe agreed two weeks ago to re-establish ties this week at trade attaché level, a step toward normalizing diplomatic relations severed in March after the Colombian military made the border raid into Ecuador's territory to eliminate a Colombian rebels' encampment. The deal for the gradual restoration of ties had been brokered by former US President Jimmy Carter. Colombia's raid into Ecuador in early March killed the number two commander of Colombia's FARC rebels and according to the administration of president Alvaro Uribe computer files found during the raid link Ecuador and Venezuela to the FARC, a charge both countries deny. The United States, Colombia and the European Union have designated the FARC as a terrorist organization.