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Ecuadorian Minister Says Manta Base Agreement with Colombia Will Not Be Renewed

Text of interview with Foreign Minister Antonio Parra: "Change in Foreign Policy" published by Ecuadoran newspaper El Universo web site on 15 July

Quito, 15 July: [Ecuadoran Foreign Minister] Antonio Parra also says that he will cut off his hand before renewing the Manta Base agreement. Venezuela and Colombia are of prime interest to the Ecuadoran Government; at least, that is what is shown by the Foreign Ministry's actions.

The links between Ecuador and Venezuela have become closer since President Alfredo Palacio took office, with the diplomatic incident provoked by Secretary General of the Administration Luis Herreria giving way to the fulsome praises of President Hugo Chavez for Palacio's speech (on 20 June at the Mercosur summit).

The latest examples are Economy Minister Rafael Correa's visit to Venezuela and Foreign Minister Antonio Parra's dinner meeting with Chavez at Miraflores Palace last Friday [8 July].

Parra went out of his way to state that his meeting with Chavez was not a secret, but neither Ecuador nor Venezuela made any official announcement about it until after the rumours had been confirmed.

The change from previous governments as regards international policy is also reflected in Parra's comments about Colombia. Interviewed by Radio La Luna yesterday, he asserted that if he were still foreign minister in 2009, the year that the agreement conceding Manta Base has to be renewed or cancelled, he would never sign a renewal. "I would cut my hand off first," he said.

He stated that the agreement signed during the Jamil Mahuad administration has dark points, but now has to be respected.

He also commented that Plan Colombia began as a fight against the drug trade and ended up "in the intervention of the United States in another country and in a struggle that has an impact on Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela."

[Zambrano] Ecuador was previously in a Bush, Uribe, Gutierrez axis. Now they say that President Alfredo Palacio has moved to the Chavez, Lula, Kirchner axis.

[Parra] No, we have a policy of sovereignty and independence. We have magnificent relations with Venezuela, Brazil, and the United States. We are excited by the South American Community of Nations, by the thinking of (Simon) Bolivar; we dream of the unity of the peoples as a supreme objective; but we are not part of any axis, either good or evil.

[Zambrano] Chavez has not been favourably viewed by the US government. In that sense, does Ecuador's rapprochement with Venezuela not put it in an anti-United States position?

[Parra] I do not know what Washington's view might be. We get on magnificently well with Venezuela, Brazil and the United States, our leading trade partner. We are not against or for anyone. But if there are good proposals for cooperation with Venezuela, we will go along with them, as we would with the United States or Brazil. It must be clear that we are the same country, with another international policy.

[Zambrano] What did you discuss with President Chavez?

[Parra] We discussed everything: history, literature; we talked about the Quito Charter, South American integration, Petrosur; but nothing secret.

[Zambrano] What are the agreements that could be signed?

[Parra] There are many. We did go into any one in greater detail. We talked in generalities, about the CAN [Andean Community of Nations], CAN-Mercosur, Venezuela's literacy programmes. Nothing was secret, despite what they are saying here about how I hid my face and used a false name to meet with Chavez.

[Zambrano] Does participating in the South American Community mean participating in such projects as Petrosur, Telesur, and the Fund for Cooperation and Development for America?

[Parra] If we are given the option of joining up with Petrosur, we will have to look into it. We put the country's interests first.

[Zambrano] If Ecuador puts its money on the South American Community, what happens to the major leagues that the former administration talked about?

[Parra] That is an absurd metaphor. We were not in the majors or the minors. That is not the problem. By tradition, we Ecuadorans are integrationists. The first Customs and economic union agreement was signed in Ecuador in 1947 and was called the Quito Charter, but people have forgotten that.

Source: El Universo web site, Guayaquil, in Spanish 15 Jul 05

By platano on Jul 16, 2005, 22:47 in Politics & the war.