Ecuador says not ready to restore Colombia ties

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador will take its time to restore diplomatic ties with Colombia, even though the two countries have resolved a week-long crisis over a Colombian military raid against guerrillas hiding in Ecuador, the president said on Saturday.

Leftist-led allies Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela cut ties with Colombia and condemned the raid, which killed more than 20 guerrillas. Ecuador and Venezuela also sent troops to their borders with Colombia.

"We'll talk about renewing diplomatic relations. We'll make a timetable. It's going to take some time," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said in his weekly radio address on Saturday.

Nicaragua and Venezuela announced they would reestablish ties with Colombia during a Latin American summit on Friday that ended in handshakes between leaders who had been verbally attacking each other all week.

The diplomatic crisis was Latin America's worst in years.

It pitted U.S.-backed Colombia, which is fighting a four-decade insurgency by Marxist rebels, against leftist leaders in the increasingly anti-U.S. region. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is stridently opposed to the administration of President George W. Bush, led the anti-Colombian chorus.

Ecuador and Venezuela said Colombia should be negotiating with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to seek peace.

But Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is popular at home because of his hard-line approach to the FARC, which has killed and kidnapped thousands of people.

The March 1 raid that killed top FARC leader Raul Reyes was a significant blow to the insurgency and Colombia found data on computers that it said prove that Venezuela and Ecuador were aiding the guerrillas.