Colombian drug spraying fuels tension with Ecuador

BOGOTA, (Reuters) Colombia on Friday pushed on with chemical spraying of the coca plants used to make cocaine along its border with Ecuador in a campaign stoking diplomatic tensions between the Andean neighbors.

Ecuadorean President-elect Rafael Correa on Thursday canceled a planned trip to Bogota to protest the fumigation with the herbicide glyphosate, which Quito says is harming crops and residents on its side of the border.

Correa, a leftist who wants to kick out U.S. military personnel working in Ecuador on anti-drug missions, said on Friday his government would seek legal action against Colombia for the drug fumigation program. "We have to take the international action necessary to present a case and at least seek some compensation for the abuses Colombia has committed," said the president-elect who assumes office in January.

Correa joined Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, in attacking Bogota's Washington-backed program to eradicate the coca crop, which helps fuel Colombia's rebel conflict.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is a key Washington ally in a region where anti-U.S. leaders such as Chavez and Correa have gained ground and called for a socialist alliance to counter Washington's influence.

Uribe gets millions of dollars in U.S. military aid to fight the drug trade and left-wing guerrillas. Colombia insists the spraying is essential to eradicate new coca leaf crops along the border, where leftist FARC guerrillas are active.

"Up until now we have sprayed about 50 percent of the fields where there are crops and in about five or six days we should be finished with the fumigation," Interior Minister Carlos Holguin told local radio.

Ecuador saying the herbicide carries risks of skin burns, genetic damage and skeletal retardation has already recalled its ambassador from Bogota for consultations and wants to see studies to prove the chemical is safe.