Viva Comandante Raúl Reyes!

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW…ABOUT THE SUCUMBÍOS MASSACRE

On March 1, 2008, the Colombian army and police carried out a military attack in Ecuador, to assassinate a FARC Comandante called Raúl Reyes. 25 people were killed while they were asleep, including a Ecuadorian civilian and four Mexican students.

The camp was bombed twice; from helicopter gunships, the soldiers strafed the area before landing and finished off the wounded once they were on the ground.

For this military operation, the Colombian government counted on the support of Washington. Colombia used high-tech US weapons. Furthermore, “coincidentally” with the slaughter, a US military aircraft made an overnight flight departing from the Manta base in Ecuador on February 29 and returning on the morning of March 1 with “unknown” route.

The Colombian military attack on Ecuador constituted a violation of international law and humanitarian law and unleashed a large-scale regional conflict. Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia. The Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, and the Venezuelan, Hugo Chávez, transferred troops to their borders with Colombia, ready to defend its sovereignty from further attacks. The attack was condemned by the governments of most American countries, except the United States.