And that’s why we love Rafael Correa…

It’s the cojones, stupid!

The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, reiterated on Sunday night his position of not re-establishing diplomatic ties to Colombia. The two countries have gone more than a year without them since the government of Colombia staged a military invasion of Ecuador.

“We will not re-establish relations, at least as long as I am president”, said Correa, recalling the breakdown that followed the bombardment of a clandestine FARC camp in Ecuadorian territory by Colombian government troops on March 1 of last year.

Ecuador, considering its sovereignty to have been violated, has required Colombia to fulfill five minimum requirements before diplomatic relations can be restored.

These demands include a greater troop presence on the Colombian side of the border to prevent the FARC from crossing into Ecuador, and that the Colombian authorities hand over information about the bombing to Ecuador, among others.

Of these demands, the Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, “has not met any”, other than to admit that Colombian troops crossed the border into Ecuador. With this recognition “things have advanced a little, but we asked for five things,” said Correa in a televised interview. He said it was “the first time in the history of Latin America that there has been a bombing of this kind.”

“This has not been a squabble among brothers, it has been a very serious attack by one country against another, a friend,” Correa said.

Translation mine.

After more than a year, he’s still standing up to El Narco and his paraco-administration. That takes some stones, no?

So, too, does being the #1 protector of Amazonian rainforest among the nine countries that share this vast tract of jungle (which, also, happens to be where the bombed FARC camp was located. In the Ecuadorian-Amazonian rainforest. Notice who’s second, BTW?)

Correa says there won’t be any further diplomatic ties as long as he’s president. Considering that he’s up for re-election this year, and is hugely popular, that could go on for some time. I’m sure this is just one reason among many that his re-election will be a walk-in.