Political Climate in Ecuador

I don´t know how big of a story it is in the U.S. but the political situation between Colombia and Ecuador right now is at full steam...

As I understand it last Saturday Colombian military forces crossed the Ecuador-Colombian border and killed FARC´s(Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or in spanish...Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) second in command. This event led to the Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, to break political ties with Colombia and expell the Colombian ambassador. In a move of solidarity, Venzuela and Nicaragua both did the same. There were demonstrations throughout Quito the past week in support of the Ecuadorian presidents decision and against Colombian-U.S. actions. Here is a good article for understanding less biased facts on the situation:

To read, listen to, or watch the whole story:http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/4/with_us_assistance_colombia_carries_out

Things are a little better now that the Colombian president has apologized but tensions between the two countries are ever present. There are over 150,000 displaced colombians in Ecuador due to the previous civil war and ongoing conflicts between FARC and the Colombian government, adding to ecuadorians discontent. Although I haven´t seen any demonstrations I have seen a huge rise in the amount of grafitti denouncing colombian prez Uribe and Colombia´s ties to the U.S. government.

Other than political news, I´ve been really sick the past week with a self-diagnosed sinus infection. But today I feel much better and just need to keep blowing my nose. Some friends went to Baños, a popular tourist town in direct threat of the active volcano Turunghaua. But I´m in a computer lab doing homework and getting up to the minute updates on the UAB-Memphis game. I have 2 8-page paper proposals due next week and need to figure out what I´m going to do and how i´m going to do it.