Ecuador's challenge: dislodging Colombian rebels [View All]

[Zorro]

Source: AP

Puerto Nuevo, population 1,700, has no church, no police, no immigration post and no elected officials. Flanked by dense rainforest on the southern bank of the muddy San Miguel River, it's a town of transients. And of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

For two decades, the rebel group has used settlements just across the border in Ecuador for logistics, staging and recreation — with tacit approval from Ecuadorean governments. Now, just as the refuge becomes more vital than ever to the badly battered rebels, Ecuador's new leftist government says it is determined to send them packing.

The policy shift became evident after March 1, when Colombian warplanes wiped out a FARC camp just this side of the border. The bombing raid killed FARC's foreign minister, Raul Reyes, and 24 others, and prompted Ecuador to break diplomatic relations with Colombia.

It was an embarrassing indication of just how little control Ecuador had over its territory.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080830/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/ecuador_and_the_rebels_1