'US backed' Ecuador camp attack

By Jeremy McDermott
BBC News, Colombia

**A Colombian attack on a rebel camp in Ecuador in March 2008 was carried out with support from US forces based in Ecuador, a new report alleges.**The report was prepared for the Ecuadorian government.

It says that US intelligence provided from a base within Ecuador was used in the execution of the attack.

The report comes at a bad time as Ecuador and Colombia were just beginning to re-establish diplomatic relations.

‘Anti-drug missions’

The Colombian military operation in March 2008 saw a Colombian rebel base within Ecuador bombed.

At the time Washington had a military base in Manta, in the north of Ecuador, granted under an agreement that allowed the US to conduct anti-drug missions in the region.

The report said that the support provided by US military went beyond that agreement.

Now the US has a military pact with Colombia, which gives the Americans military access to bases here.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has frozen diplomatic links fearing that the US-Colombia military pact is the first step to an attack on his nation.