MEDIA REACTION: WESTERN HEMISPHERE: CRISIS BETWEEN COLOMBIA

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000114 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: WESTERN HEMISPHERE: CRISIS BETWEEN COLOMBIA AND ECUADOR; SAO PAULO ¶1. "The OAS' Prudent Decision" Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo editorialized (3/7): "Brazil, Argentina and Chile wisely decided to isolate caudillo Hugo Chvez, the main catalyst of the crisis being the first to break relations with Colombia and announcing the sending of troops to the border, practically forcing President Rafael Correa do to the same. Chvez is interested in worsening the conflict with Colombia.... He needs to create foreign enemies to feed his insanity of recreating the vice kingdom that Bolivar failed to maintain.... The armored battalions he has sent to the border are arriving there little by little because he is aware that his Army is not a rival for the Colombian troops, which are well equipped and trained to fight the narco-guerrillas.... It is necessary that Brazil, Argentina and Chile continue their efforts to reconcile Ecuador and Colombia.... Daniel Ortega and Rafael Correa, who have acted under Chvez's tutelage, can still create serious constraints on the Colombian government." ¶2. "Domestic Solution" Columnist Eliane Cantanhede commented in liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo(3/7): "The OAS not only emerged from the ashes but obtained something unprecedented, or at least very rare, while discussing the Colombia-Ecuador conflict. The US was not in the center of the discussion or of the decision. Latin American diplomacy has prevailed. The diplomatic initiative carried out by more moderate nations such as Brazil, Chile and Argentina worked: the OAS condemned an action, not a nation. It condemned the violation of Ecuador's territory, without directly attacking the Colombian government.... President Lula and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim succeeded in maintaining Brazil very well positioned to negotiate with both Uribe and Correa, along with Chile and Argentina. To do so, they have resorted since the beginning to the same strategy adopted by the OAS: to remove the bellicose Chvez and Bush from the debate." White