Colombia crisis appears to be easing

In Washington, the Organization of American States passed a consensus resolution that used mutually acceptable language to rebuke Colombia for having violated Ecuadorean sovereignty Saturday in a raid that killed a high-ranking rebel leader and 16 others.

The 34-member organization voted to "reaffirm the principle that the territory of a state is inviolable and may not be the object, even temporarily, of military occupation or of other measures of force taken by another state, directly or indirectly, on any grounds whatsoever."

The OAS also agreed to Ecuador's demand that a four-member fact-finding commission be sent to the region and deliver a report to a council of foreign ministers meeting in Washington on March 17.

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Maria Isabel Salvador said the OAS has "passed an historical test . . . and confirmed its reason for being."

Colombian officials said they in turn were satisfied that the resolution stopped short of condemning the mission that killed Raul Reyes, the second-highest commander in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a mile inside Ecuadorean territory.

But Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez added naval ships to a previously announced border mobilization that involves tanks, aircraft and 9,000 additional troops. Venezuela and Ecuador earlier had sent troops to their borders with Colombia, recalled their ambassadors and expelled Colombia's.

Colombia kept up its end of the fight, naming a four-member commission to prepare a case before the International Criminal Court in The Hague to accuse Chavez of "intentional and systematic collaboration with a terrorist organization," the FARC.

Much of the case will be built around electronic files found in three laptops in the Ecuadorean jungle camp where Reyes was killed. According to the Colombian police, the documents indicate that Chavez gave the FARC $300 million and maintained close links to FARC leadership, in violation of international law.

Colombia said Chavez has given "systematic and intentional help" to the FARC as it carried out attacks on Colombia from Venezuelan territory, a "crime against humanity." Colombia has long suspected that Chavez is tolerant of FARC rebels' presence.