Ecuador has cut diplomatic ties with Colombia in a deepening crisis over a cross-border raid by Colombian troops.Venezuela also said it was expelling all Colombian diplomats in the wake of the raid, which killed senior Farc rebel Raul Reyes and 16 others.
Venezuela and Ecuador have deployed troops to their borders amid calls for restraint led by the head of the UN.
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As the crisis deepened, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon added his voice, expressing concern about "increased tensions and heightened rhetoric" in the region.
In Washington, a state department spokesman backed Colombia's right to defend itself while urging dialogue.
Meanwhile, Colombia accused Ecuador and Venezuela of having ties with the Farc and said the rebels had tried to buy uranium.
The Colombian authorities said the information had come from documents found during Saturday's raid on the rebel camp in Ecuador.
"When they mention negotiations for 50 kilos of uranium, this means that the Farc are taking big steps in the world of terrorism to become a global aggressor. We're not talking of domestic guerrilla but transnational terrorism," said Colombian national police chief Oscar Naranjo at a news conference in Bogota.
Other documents showed that President Chavez had provided $300m (£151m) to the Farc, and had received funds from them many years earlier, he said.
And there was also evidence of links between the Farc and representatives of the Ecuadorean government, Gen Naranjo claimed.
But Venezuela and Ecuador poured scorn on the Colombian claims.
And from The Guardian:
Venezuela and Colombia were locked in a tense stand-off yesterday, with explosive accusations levelled against Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez a day after he ordered tanks and troops to the border.There was no sign of imminent conflict but the war of words escalated when Colombia accused Chávez of bankrolling the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), Marxist rebels categorised around the world as terrorists.
Colombia's police commander, General Oscar Naranjo, told a media conference that Bogotá had evidence that Chávez paid $300m (£151m) to the organisation, an allegation which complicated efforts to cool a serious regional crisis.
Colombia triggered the dispute last Saturday by bombing a Farc camp a mile inside Ecuador, killing 17 rebels, including Raúl Reyes, a senior commander. In response, Ecuador and Venezuela yesterday severed diplomatic ties. Quito sent 3,200 troops to its border and Chávez, from the other end of the Andes, ordered the mobilisation of 10 armoured battalions and warplanes to deter what he called Colombian aggression.
