Ecuador's president-elect on Thursday said he would cancel a visit to Colombia unless its government agrees to halt aerial fumigation of coca crops along the border with Ecuador, AP reported. Ecuadorean President-elect Rafael Correa said he hopes Colombian President Alvaro Uribe offers a «friendly signal» by «stopping the fumigation at least for the two days» that he had planned to visit. His condition left in doubt a trip scheduled to begin Thursday night. Correa argues Colombia's fumigation using glyphosate is unacceptable because it kills legal crops on the Ecuadorean side of the border and has been blamed for causing health problems. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has backed Correa's stance. «I couldn't be visiting our sister nation of Colombia while they are bombarding us with glyphosate on the border,» Correa said after a ceremony with top Venezuelan officials on Thursday morning. «That's what we're asking. If there isn't that friendly signal, with all the pain of my heart I would have to suspend the visit.» «We're very glad to be invited ... but there should be a friendly expression on the part of the president,» Correa said of Uribe. Colombia last week renewed spraying of coca, the plant used to make cocaine, to within 100 meters (some 330 feet) of the border because coca growers had swarmed into the area. Both Correa and Chavez say Colombia should find another way to stamp out cocaine production. The two are united by leftist ideology and critical stances toward the U.S. _ a sharp contrast with Uribe, who remains one of Washington's closest allies in South America.
