The Ecuadorean government is the latest in Latin American to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state, as AP reported. The Foreign Ministry says in a statement that President Rafael Correa officially recognized Palestine on Friday as «free and independent, with its borders since 1967.» It says he sent a message to that effect to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Ecuador joins Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba and Venezuela in supporting an independent Palestine with borders recognized prior to the 1967 Mideast war.