Colombia's incursion into Ecuador: Who gains?

Cracks were even growing in the long standoff between the U.S.-backed Uribe regime and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), with the recent release of half a dozen FARC-held hostages brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba.

Enter the Colombian military’s brazen incursion into Ecuador to murder FARC leader Raul Reyes and 19 other insurgents. Colombia claimed hot pursuit. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa countered with survivors’ accounts and Ecuadorian military reports showing the insurgents were bombed from the air, and Colombian troops then arrived to shoot survivors and take away Reyes’ body.

Now both Ecuador and Venezuela have recalled their ambassadors from Bogota and mobilized troops on their borders with Colombia. Governments throughout Latin America and around the world are protesting the incursion.

Speculation is widespread about the involvement of U.S. intelligence services in the strike.