Our enemy in Ecuador

Mary Anastasia O'Grady:

Previously undisclosed documents, fruits of the Colombian military's raid on a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (a.k.a. FARC) camp in Ecuador in 2008, came into my hands last week.

The FARC's second in command, Raúl Reyes, was killed in that raid. But he left behind laptop computers containing correspondence detailing a cozy relationship not only with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez but also -- the fresh documents reveal -- with the government of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.

Someone should tell the White House. Ten days ago, President Obama called Mr. Correa to, according to a spokesman, "congratulate him on his recent re-election." Mr. Obama also wanted to "express his desire to deepen our bilateral relationship and to maintain an ongoing dialogue that can ensure a productive relationship based on mutual respect."

Mr. Correa is anything but respectful of U.S. interests in the region. He's more like Fidel Castro -- albeit with a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois. Under his rule, liberty has been evaporating faster than you can say bolivariano. Now the Reyes letters provide strong evidence that he has been actively supporting the Marxist FARC guerrillas, who see the U.S. as a major enemy.

Mr. Correa has publicly claimed that he is not a FARC accomplice. But Reyes reported otherwise. In a Jan. 5, 2007, letter to FARC leader Manuel Marulanda he wrote of an impending visit from "an emissary of Rafael Correa." The purpose of the meeting was, among other things, to come up with "bilateral collaborative agreements" in which "our captured guerrillas in their territory are handed over to us and none of them go into the hands of Colombian authorities."

Reyes said that the emissary was coming "to strengthen the binational committee -- made up of comrades of the [Colombian Clandestine Communist Party] and Ecuadorean friends -- that would denounce the violations of Ecuadorean sovereignty by [Colombian] troops and demonstrate the harmful effects of fumigation." In other words, Ecuador wanted to help the FARC in two of its most important objectives: establishing a safe haven over the border and ending fumigation of coca crops, a key source of the FARC's drug-trade income.

In another note to Marulanda on Jan. 28, 2007, Reyes mourns the death of his "amiga, the minister," referring no doubt to Ecuador's minister of defense, Guadalupe Larriva, who was killed in a helicopter crash four days earlier. But looking on the bright side, he said, another minister, this one "of finance, also wants to visit us on the 9th."

Then, on Jan. 18, 2008, Reyes wrote to the FARC secretariat summarizing "a visit from the Ecuadorean minister of security, Gustavo Larrea, who in the name of President Correa brought greetings" for Marulanda. According to Reyes, Mr. Larrea expressed "interest on behalf of the president to make official [Ecuador's] relationship with FARC leadership."

...

Correa is an enemy of the US and Colombia and should be treated as such. Obama will gain nothing by schmoozing with him. Correa is the Chavez of Ecuador. He is attempting to impose a command economy on the people and work with narco terrorist.

It is also clear that the University of Illinois will not be confused with the University of Chicago when it comes to an economics education, unless this guy did not believe what he was taught. No intelligent person, much less one with the PhD in economics should be imposing a command economy on his people.