Colombian president defends former officials over spat with Ecuador

2011-06-26 11:34:27

BOGOTA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- President Juan Manuel Santos Saturday defended several former top Colombian officials sought by a court in neighboring Ecuador for a trail over their role in a deadly cross-border attack more than three years ago.

Columbia had said the attack against a rebel camp operating in Ecuador was to defend itself, but Ecuador saw the military move as a blatant breach of its sovereignty. The spat led to a brief rupture of diplomatic relationship between the two Latin American countries.

Speaking of the latest decision by an Ecuadorian court to seek trial against those former Colombian officials involved in the attack, Santos said "I rejected that jurisdiction."

During a meeting with local officials in the northern city of Barranquilla, he reiterated that his country would defend at all levels the members of the security forces who participated in the attack, dubbed Phoenix Operation, which took place in the Ecuadorian province of Sucumbios on the border with Colombia.

The military raid killed at least 24 people, including Raul Reyes, second-in-command of the rebel group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The Supreme Court of Sucumbios on Friday filed an appeal seeking a trial for Colombia's former commander of the military forces Freddy Padilla, national police chief Oscar Naranjo and former army commander Mario Montoya.

The court accused them of homicide for their role in the March 2008 bombing raid on the FARC camp in Ecuadorian territory.

But Santos said these officials involved in the military operation "deserve applause, support, admiration not only from the Colombian people...but from the whole world" for striking FARC, which the Colombian government deems a terrorist group.

Santos said he, as defense minister at the time, authorized the raid "in the company of" then President Alvaro Uribe.

The two countries cut off diplomatic relationship in the wake of the attack, but agreed to re-establish it in November 2010 at a regional summit.

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