Ecuador president tells Bush to send troops or 'shut your mouth'

Ecuador's president is challenging U.S. President George W. Bush to send troops to the Andean nation's border with Colombia "or shut your mouth" about

Rafael Correa made the comments late Thursday in angry response to Bush's strong support for Colombia after it raided a rebel camp on Ecuadorean soil on March 1 — an act that Correa denounced as an attack on his country's sovereignty.

"Bring your soldiers Mr. Bush," Correa said during a heated speech late Thursday. "Let it be your soldiers who die along the southern border with Colombia. We'll see if the Americans, the citizens of the United States will accept tremendous atrocity.

"If not, shut your mouth and understand what is happening in Latin America."

Ecuador has repeatedly said it is the victim of a spillover of violence from Colombia's long armed conflict. Colombian officials complain that Ecuador hasn't done enough to keep rebels from hiding in its territory.

After Colombia's raid earlier this month, Correa and his close ally, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, severed or curtailed relations with Bogota and sent troops to their borders with Colombia.

The three leaders sparred verbally at a Latin American summit, then stiffly shook hands in a sign they would put the feud behind them.

But Correa clearly remains angry over the raid — as well as over Colombian allegations that documents found on a rebel leader's laptop computer show Correa's administration cooperating with the guerrillas in some areas and that the rebels had contributed to Correa's campaign.