Tension Between Ecuador and Colombia. Rafael Correa’s government has recalled its representative in Bogotà, Ambassador Alejandro Suarez, and cancelled his tenure in Colombia to protest against Bogotá’s decision to continue its aerial spraying program to destroy frontier coca production zones along the border it shares with Ecuador. The potent pesticide employed to destroy the plants is also poisoning crops on Ecuador’s side of the border.

Big Brothers. “Dialogue with President Alvaro Uribe to find a solution to this crisis will begin again as soon as Colombia halts the spraying,” stated Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Francisco Carriòn, who notified the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations of the diplomatic rupture and requested intervention by the international associations. According to the Foreign Minister, the Uribe government has not respected an agreement between the two countries, and his action, “has generated anti-Colombian sentiments and hostility in public opinion,” in Ecuador.

Another crisis. The issue arose at the beginning of the week, with Colombia’s announcement that it would recommence spraying along the mountainous ridges on the border between the two states, an area ten kilometers wide and 640 kilometers long. A year ago the two nations agreed to consider the area off-limits to pesticide spraying, and until now the agreement has been respected. The shift from Colombia outraged the Ecuadorian government, plunging the neighbor states into the same crisis that led last January to a rupture in diplomatic relations.

Collateral Damage. Quito’s complaint hinges on its claim that the pesticide Colombia uses to destroy coca, from which cocaine is extracted, is damaging to all other living things as well, including other crops, animals, and people. The land subjected to spraying becomes unusable, animals die, and people become sick. Crops such as rice, yucca, and plantain, all essential to the survival of rural farmers, are permanently compromised, and the rivers, upon which thousands of people depend, become polluted.

Eyewitness Testimony. PeaceReporter received the following eyewitness report from a Colombia woman who lives in the Sur de Bolivar and who was present during one episode of pesticide spraying: “That poison is fatal,” she reported. “These are the tomatoes that grew around my house. They’re covered with white spots. It’s a nightmare. The say the objective is to destroy the coca plantations, but it’s us poor people who pay for it. When it touches your skin, it feels oily, but it makes you itch. Your eyes burn and tear. It’s unbearable. Then comes headaches, vomiting, diarrhea; especially in the littlest ones. Not to mention the long-term effects. Two pregnant women here had spontaneous abortions a few days after spraying, and in a nearby village a baby was born with deformities. And a man died after working in fields that had been sprayed. He had no way out.”

Plan Colombia. The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister has therefore denounced the spraying and added that he will not tolerate any pressure from Washington. The United States finances the war on drugs in this region, having given 1.7 billion dollars and aircraft equipped for pesticide spraying to Colombia, making it the third largest receiver of US foreign aid, after Egypt and Israel. The US coca eradication program began in 2000 and is named Plan Colombia. Since then Uribe has sent pesticide spraying planes over every agricultural zone in Colombia, citing an OAS study that concluded that the pesticide, glifosfato, is not hazardous to health, a conclusion opposed by many experts.

A Finger in the Wound. Thus Ecuador consider Uribe’s recent decision a “hostile act” against a nation that has always demonstrated “extreme solidarity” with Colombia, from which it receives thousands of refugees every year. “More than half a million Colombians have fled into our country over the border, and the majority are undocumented. This hostile response is damaging relations between us.” As a response, Ecuador may decide to strike Colombia in a sensitive spot, by closing the border to Colombian refugees.