Ecuador, Colombia talk again 1½ yrs after invasion

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuadorean officials said Monday they are ready to resume diplomatic talks a year-and-a-half after Colombia conducted an unauthorized cross-border raid that killed Colombian rebels.

Foreign Minister Fander Falconi told reporters he will meet with his Colombian counterpart, Jaime Bermudez, early next week on the sidelines of a U.N. Assembly General meeting in New York.

This is the first time the two countries have fixed a firm date to talk about re-establishing diplomatic ties.

Ecuador severed relations on March 3, 2008, two days after Colombia’s cross-border raid of a base of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been seeking to overthrow governments in Bogota for 45 years.

The raid killed the FARC’s foreign minister and 24 others. Ecuador denounced it as a violation of its sovereignty.

The officials plan to meet Sept. 22.