(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-15 16:17

QUITO - Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa told US President George W. Bush on Friday to either send US troops to the border with Colombia or "shut up," in response to criticism that Ecuador harbors Colombian rebels.

Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa gives an interview to AFP on March 11, 2008. Correa told US President George W. Bush on Friday to either send US troops to the border with Colombia or "shut up," in response to criticism that Ecuador harbors Colombian rebels. [Agencies]

"Mr Bush, bring over your soldiers, let your soldiers be the ones who get killed at the southern border with Colombia," Correa said two weeks after Bogota raided a Colombian rebel camp inside Ecuador killing a top rebel leader.

"Let's see if American citizens will accept such a tremendous barbarity. Otherwise, shut up and try to understand what's happening in Latin America," the Ecuadoran leader added.

Correa's challenge followed implied criticism of Ecuador by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when she said Thursday during a visit to Brazil that "responsible states" should not let their territory be used by "terrorists."

The leaders of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela -- which backed Quito in its week-long border row that nearly degenerated into military conflict -- defused the crisis shaking hands at a Rio Group summit a week ago in Santo Domingo.

Colombia apologized for the March 1 raid, in which 25 people were killed, but Ecuador has yet to resume diplomatic relations with Bogota.

Colombia alleges that computer files found at the raided rebel camp yielded documents showing close links between Ecuador, Venezuela and the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which the US and Europe consider a terrorist group.

Bush on Wednesday accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of backing "terrorists" in neighboring Colombia.

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday said Bush was clutching at straws in his criticism of Venezuela: "The head of the empire is getting desperate."

As to the possibility Venezuela may be included in a US list of states that sponsor terrorism, for its alleged links to the FARC, Chavez was a little more blunt: "Let them make that list and then stuff it in their ... pocket."

Correa also challenged Spain to put its troops in harm's way at the border, after Madrid newspaper El Pais printed allegations the Ecuadoran government was mixed up with FARC rebels.

"I invite Spain, the country of origin of that newspaper El Pais, to come here and deploy its soldiers at the southern border with Colombia.

"You don't know how grateful we would be, how much trouble you'd save us."

Spain also lists the FARC as a terrorist group.

Correa also reiterated his proposal that a multinational force monitor the 600 kilometer (370 miles) Ecuador-Colombia border, which the Washington-based Organization of American States has ruled out due to the rugged terrain.