In Bed with Sure-shot

Oh dear. Just as the South American crisis seems to have reached some form of closure, Spanish daily El País reports on Ecuador's harbouring of FARC rebels/maffia.

Apparently, the FARC guerrilla presence in Ecuador is more like a well established network of settlements than an improvised camp. The rebels run drugs along the border and - even worse - are supplied and receive protection from Ecuadorean army officers. They buy weapons from a local arms dealer and pay off regional officials to look the other way.

All of this was, of course, known to Colombia, who claim they have repeatedly warned the government of Rafael Correa about the FARC's activities along Ecuador's northern border. The information harvested from Raúl Reyes laptop provided even more insight into the dealings of the Correa government with the FARC. Colombia also said it provides details about Venezuela's financing of the guerrilla insurgency, although we haven't seen any real proof of that yet.

Want to see for yourself what was on that laptop, here's the link.

The FARC, led by the ageing Manuel Marulanda, alias Tirofijo or Sure-shot, have been waging a war on the Colombian state since 1964.

The OAS was in Ecuador on Monday inspecting the remains of Reyes' camp. It'll be interesting to here what they turn up.

Photo: Garry Leech