WIkileaks: Colombia's Ecuador raid, and Posada

Cuba maintained a studied neutrality in 2008 in the dispute between Colombia and Ecuador that when stemmed from Colombia’s successful military attack on a FARC guerrilla camp in Ecuadorean territory, according to a Wikileaked cable published by El Comercio of Quito. This is a little surprising considering that Ecuador’s government is friendly to Havana, the raid’s victims were communist guerrillas, it involved a cross-border incursion, and Colombia’s president at the time was a big buddy of President Bush. The cable comes from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana and is based on an account from Colombia’s ambassador there. El Comercio’s story is here.

Then there’s this 2005 cable from the U.S. Embassy in New Zealand reporting that instructions to deliver a message about Luis Posada Carriles were carried out. We already know from court proceedings that the Bush Administration had asked a number of foreign governments to take him off our hands; maybe this message refers to one more such effort. To my knowledge it has never been reported whether the idea was to find a place where he could retire in peace, or a place where Venezuelan or Cuban extradition requests would be executable. If Wikileaks would dig up the “reftel,” 05 State 99854, we would know.