Colombia's defense minister said on Sunday that an Ecuadorean was killed during Colombia's controversial March 1 raid on a rebel camp across the border in Ecuador.
Ecuador briefly mobilized troops to its border with Colombia in the wake of the attack that killed top Colombian rebel commander Raul Reyes and 25 others. Confirmation of the Ecuadorean death threatened to revive tensions between the Andean neighbors that still have not renewed diplomatic relations.
Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said one of two bodies brought to Colombia after the attack belonged to an Ecuadorean he identified only by the nom de guerre "Lucho."
The Ecuadorean's body was initially identified as that of a Colombian rebel troubadour, alias Julian Conrado, and brought back to the Colombian capital of Bogota with Reyes' body.
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Relatives of a missing Ecuadorean locksmith say they have seen news photos that indicate the body is that of their son. The family of Franklin Aizalia planned to travel to Bogota as soon as yesterday in a bid to confirm the body's identity.
On Saturday, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa threatened to launch a new diplomatic offensive against Colombia if DNA tests confirm that Colombian forces killed an Ecuadorean citizen.
Santos on Sunday urged Ecuadorean authorities not to act rashly.
"To President Correa and Ecuadorean authorities: Be careful with letting yourselves act impetuously on behalf of criminals," the defense minister told reporters while attending an unrelated military funeral. "Take care and corroborate with your own authorities the identities of people."
Santos said Colombian military investigations suggest Lucho was romantically involved with Nubia Calderon, alias Esperanza, who allegedly served as a public ambassador in Ecuador to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The minister called the Colombian raid on the FARC camp a "legitimate act of war."
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Correa previously said he would urge the Organization of American States (OAS) to "act forcefully" if tests confirm that Colombia killed an Ecuadorean citizen, saying he did not want a precedent set in the region.
Over the weekend, the office of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe issued a statement calling Reyes' camp "a place of terrorists," but vowed to adhere to any decisions of the OAS, which is investigating the cross-border raid.
Tensions over the raid were largely defused at a regional summit in the Dominican Republic days after the attack, but Correa has yet to return his ambassador to Bogota.
Four Mexican university students and a Colombian soldier were among those who died in the raid.
Uribe, a close US ally, says documents seized at the camp from Reyes' computer show that the FARC gave money to Correa's 2006 presidential campaign. He also claims Correa's ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, planned to give the rebels US$300 million.
Correa says he has requested the documents, which he said lack "technical and legal" validity.
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