Brazil urges diplomacy to contain Colombia dispute
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil said on Monday it would increase diplomatic efforts to help resolve a standoff between Colombia and its neighbors Ecuador and Venezuela, cautioning that the tensions were destabilizing regional ties.
Venezuela and Ecuador sent troops to their borders with Colombia on Sunday and downgraded diplomatic ties after their Andean neighbor bombed Colombian rebels inside Ecuador.
"This conflict ... is beginning to destabilize regional relations," said Marco Aurelio Garcia, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's foreign policy adviser.
"We are mobilizing all of Brazil's diplomatic resources and those of other South American capitals to find a lasting solution," Garcia told CBN radio.
Lula will talk to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Monday to coordinate diplomatic efforts, Garcia said. Chile also offered to participate in the conflict resolution, he said.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim was urging his Ecuadorean and Colombian counterparts to seek a diplomatic solution.
"It is most important to reduce tension as much as possible and relaunch the ongoing initiatives to reach a humanitarian accord," Garcia said in reference to the release of several hostages this year by Colombia's Marxist FARC rebels.
On Saturday, Colombian troops killed Raul Reyes, a leader of the FARC, during an attack that included air strikes and ground combat against a jungle camp in Ecuador in a severe blow to Latin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had helped broker the release of hostages held by the FARC, responded by deploying tanks to the border and mobilizing warplanes. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa also bolstered his country's military presence along its border with Colombia.
Garcia said the conflict was a South American problem and ought to be resolved by countries from within the region.
"We don't want to interfere in internal affairs, but our principle of non-intervention cannot mean indifference by Brazil," Garcia told CBN.
France said Reyes was its contact in negotiations aimed at winning the release of Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate who also holds French nationality. She has been held hostage in the Colombian jungle for six years.
(Reporting by Raymond Colitt, additional reporting by Pedro Silva, editing by Patricia Zengerle)
