March 6, 2008

Colombian Attack in Ecuador Leaves 1 Mexican Student Injured; Another Is Feared Dead

Mexico City — A university student from Mexico was wounded and another may have been killed in a Colombian military attack on a guerrilla base camp in Ecuador late last week.

The raid, on March 1, was meant to crush terrorist activities allegedly being planned by members of the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Colombia’s largest guerrilla group. Ecuador and Venezuela have since ordered troops to their borders with Colombia and reduced diplomatic ties with that nation, calling the attack a violation of Ecuador’s sovereignty, the Associated Press reported.

Today, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Ministry announced that it was attempting to confirm reports that two Mexican citizens had died during the conflict. The ministry did not identify the citizens in question, but it is believed that one of them was a student at Mexico’s National Autonomous University, or UNAM, according to the Associated Press.

Lucia Andrea Morett, 26, a drama student at the university, was injured in the attack and remained hospitalized in Quito, Ecuador, as of Wednesday. Ms. Morett’s parents confirmed to the Mexican news media that she had attended a leftist political conference in Ecuador, but they denied that she was involved in rebel activities. They said that she planned to become an actress. Students at the university told the Los Angeles Times that Ms. Morett was a known activist, but they also denied that she was a guerrilla or involved in any illegal activities.

The AP reported that OkupacheWeb, a Web site run by a leftist student group, lists Ms. Morett as a member of a group at the university that supports the Colombian rebels’ cause. —Monica Campbell

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