Reporters on the Job
from the March 5, 2008 edition
• Unease in Bogotá: Correspondent Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá, Colombia, says that the public mood there is different than at any time in recent memory. "There have been moments of tension with Ecuador and Venezuela over border issues, such as fumigation of coca fields, but it has never reached the point of total breakdown of diplomatic ties," she says.
She says there was a celebratory mood after the Colombian Army raided a rebel camp in Ecuador Saturday and killed a FARC leader. But it's turned somber now (see story).
"People keep insisting there will be no armed conflict, but they're starting to get worried," says Sibylla. "At a restaurant last night, I overheard people wondering what's going to happen next. They were talking about whether [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chávez would start a war. He's the wild card."
She says the Colombian government appears more outspoken than the military. But she didn't find anyone questioning the veracity of the claim that the laptop computer captured in the Ecuadorean raid contained evidence that Venezuela has paid $300 million to the FARC. "Most people see it as proof of what they already knew," she says.
– David Clark Scott
World editor
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