What a concept - diplomacy to solve a military crisis!

Now this is the way to conduct diplomacy!

The nearly week-long crisis between Colombia on the one hand and its neighbors Venezuela and Ecuador on the other has been resolved. It's an amazingly daring idea. They decided to get together and talk instead of going to war! Talk and even hug, if you can believe that.

Colombia was pretty much completely isolated diplomatically in Latin America over the border-violation incident. The Cheney-Bush administration, which sneers at all this "national sovereignty" nonsense, backed Colombia.

But Colombia decided not to approach it the Cheney way, i.e., making up fake intelligence to justify invading Ecuador and making "regime change". Their alternative is described in news reports: Uribe, Chávez, Ortega y Correa cierran la crisis diplomática con un apretón de manos El País 07.03.08Latin American nations end crisis with handshake Reuters 03/07/08; Handshakes and a hug cool South American war talk by Frances Robles, McClatchey 03/07/08.

The leaders of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua got together and agreed to work things out peacefully. Nicaragua's presence is particularly notable, because they have their own separate issues with Colombia. Nicaragua joined Ecuador and Venezuela last week in breaking diplomatic relations with Colombia over Colombia's cross-border military incursion into Ecuador.

Here's how Reuters describes the meeting:

The presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela ended a border dispute on Friday with a summit handshake after a week of regional diplomacy in the face of hostile rhetoric and troop buildups.

"And with this ... this incident that has caused so much damage (is) resolved," leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said before standing up and shaking hands with his U.S.-backed conservative Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had blamed the United States for the crisis as he sent tanks to the border with Colombia, joined in shaking Uribe's hand and applauded loudly and smiled.

The dispute erupted last Saturday when Colombia raided inside Ecuador to kill a rebel leader. It resolution brought the summit to a surprise ending after bitter exchanges, including Correa calling Uribe a liar.

The accord came after Uribe apologized to Correa under pressure from governments across the region, which worked to prevent the crisis escalating into Latin America's first armed conflict in more than a decade. (my emphasis)

Washington's bogeyman Hugo Chávez declared, "This summit was a gift from God."

One detail that only the El País article of the three linked above reports is that after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe shook hands with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, he went over to Chávez and not only shook hands with him but hugged him. Then he did the same with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

What are they, all a bunch of hippies? It sounds like some kind of California New Age convention! Did they pass around a reefer or something after that?

Gosh, who knew that serious international tensions could be resolved that way? Not Dick Cheney or George Bush or Rummy or the bold Maverick McCain, I would say.

But, you know, it might be worth giving it a try!

Tags: colombia, daniel ortega, ecuador, hugo chávez, nicaragua, venezuela