Sovereignty vs. Sanctuary in South America

NY Times:

...

“Ecuador rejects any effort by Colombia to avoid responsibility for violating its sovereignty, which is a right that secures the peaceful coexistence of all nations,” Ms. Salvador said. “Diplomatic apologies are not enough.”

An apology was not all she got. Ambassador Camilo Ospina of Colombia strongly denied accusations that Colombian troops used military force on Ecuadorean territory, saying that aircraft fired into Ecuador from the Colombian side of the border.

He acknowledged that after the bombing, Colombian forces entered Ecuador to examine the FARC camp. And what they found, he said, was evidence that Ecuador had been harboring members of the FARC.

...

“There is not the least doubt that the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador have been negotiating with terrorists,” Mr. Ospina said. “Allowing terrorist groups to keep camps on their territory border for the planning and execution of terrorist acts is a crime and a clear violation of international treaties.” Television in Venezuela also broadcast images of tank battalions heading to the border, following a threat by Mr. Chávez on Sunday that Colombia would be inviting war if it carried out an incursion in Venezuela similar to the one on Saturday in a remote Amazonian province of Ecuador that killed 21 guerrillas.

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“Chávez is effectively supporting narcoterrorists who take refuge in Venezuela and Ecuador while saying a democratically elected leader of Colombia cannot fight back,” said Diego Arria, a former Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations who is a vocal critic of Mr. Chávez.

Still, Mr. Uribe, Colombia’s president, is struggling to convince other countries in the region of Colombia’s need to carry out the foray into Ecuador. Even if they might agree with Mr. Uribe in private, leaders are hesitant to publicly back him, given sensitivities over territorial sovereignty.

...

I find the pleas over Ecuador's sovereignty rather strange. Why should sovereignty be a shield for giving sanctuary to narco terrorist who are murdering people in a neighboring country? It makes no sense. If Ecuador and Venezuela are serious they are not very intelligent. What they appear to be doing is covering their association with the narco terrorist with bluster to hide their attempts to undermine Colombia's sovereignty.

This is a story where the NY Time seems to ignore this commonsense issue and focus on how the leftist thugs in Ecuador and Venezuela view Colombia as a proxy for the US in the region. Colombia is certainly an ally of the US, but that has nothing to do with its right to not have its neighbors host its enemies.