Tangled Web Part 3

I don’t know how long I’ll continue doing updates on this story, but it’s still far too interesting to set aside.

• The Venezuelan government says it does not need Colombia for domestic food "sovereignty." Aside from Argentina and Brazil, it can also get its food from powerhouses like Nicaragua and Belarus. If trade remains disrupted, then Chávez will very quickly have to put his money where his mouth is.

• Rafael Correa’s goal is to get Colombia to admit it violated Ecuador’s sovereignty and apologize, possibly even a censure. Most Latin American countries have expressed “rejection” (which seems to be the most common rhetoric being used) of the incursion in some form or another. They then want the OAS to deal with it.

• Colombia says it already apologized, but it was one of those “we’re sorry that we’re being forced to apologize, and we would do it again” types of apologies.

• Correa also made vague threats about “doing what it takes” to “defend ourselves” if Colombia does not apologize.

• The Ecuadorian Minister of Internal Security suggested having a multinational force patrol Colombia’s border with Ecuador. That might not be such a bad idea.

• The OAS emergency meeting did not yield a statement on the crisis:
  

An understanding was beginning to be worked out with Colombia admitting that a country’s territorial integrity in “inviolable” and can not be the object of “force measures by another country”.

However Colombia objected to the last wording and insisted that combating terrorism and terrorism financing is a priority for the (South American) continent and should also be included in the draft.

The Venezuelan delegate said that OAS would have no meaning if it wasn’t able to confirm that a sovereignty violation act has been committed against one of its members.

• Lastly, the OAS has the laptops. So who gets to check them out?