Correa warms to Colombia's president-elect

[Bacchus39]

Correa warms to Colombia's president-elect

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100622/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_colombia_elections


BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombia's president-elect was congratulated by Venezuela on Monday while a friendly phone call from Ecuador's president suggested the prospect of re-established ties between the neighbors.

Juan Manuel Santos won Sunday's runoff by the largest margin in modern Colombian history: 69 percent against 28 percent for Antanas Mockus, an eccentric outsider running as candidate of the incipient Green Party.

The Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez wished Santos success and said it hoped he will demonstrate the "sincerity and respect" needed to ease tensions.

But Chavez, who previously expressed doubts about Santos being Colombia's president, wasn't among the many Latin American presidents who called to congratulate the winner.

Ecuador's Rafael Correa, the president of the other neighbor with which relations have been testy, did call, however.

"I spoke with President Correa this morning. He called me. He was very nice," Santos said, adding that the two agreed to seek improved relations.

Ecuador broke diplomatic ties with Colombia after Bogota's military — with Santos as the defense minister — crossed into Ecuador in March 2008 and killed a top Colombian rebel leader and 25 others at a guerrilla base.

Last month, a judge in Ecuador ordered Santos' arrest for authorizing the raid. Santos called the arrest warrant absurd because the Colombian state — not he individually — carried out the raid.

Santos told The Associated Press in a pre-election interview that he planned to invite Chavez and the Venezuelan leader's leftist allies to his inauguration.

"I want good relations with all our neighbors," he said.