The 38th meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) opened officially last Sunday night in Medellín, Colombia, focused on the crisis between Ecuador and Colombia, whose presidents will brief on the status of their attempts at rapprochement.

During the opening ceremony, OAS Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza lamented that the release of the files found in the laptops property of "Raúl Reyes" "has exacerbated" the debate and "deteriorated wording" among the countries in the hemisphere. He regretted that this would not help ease the strained relations, AP reported.

Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs María Isabel Salvador asked OAS to investigate the truthfulness of the computers of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) second-in-command, and argued that her country neither tolerated nor had any links with the Colombian guerrillas.

OAS, said Insulza, is tracking the development of the political process in Cuba and looking forward to "seeing that beloved sister nation fully reinserted in our organization."

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe urged the countries of the Americas to consider rebel groups as terrorists and do not award FARC the belligerence status.

The political crisis in Bolivia, where each of two regions held on Sunday a referendum to vote their autonomy, in opposition to the government of President Evo Morales, will be another item in the agenda, AFP reported.

The central subject at the Medellín conference is "Youth and democratic values."

On Tuesday, the meeting will include a report by Insulza on the OAS steps to restore Colombia-Ecuador relations.

In his opinion, the bilateral split is hard to solve because the two countries have legitimate stances.

However, he promised not to let any country to leave the organization or embrace an anti US policy. "I am not taking one single step for any country to leave the organization," he told Bogotá's daily newspaper El Tiempo.

Insulza does not think that the emergence of new hemispheric entities, such as the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) or the South American Defense Council, will diminish OAS significance or leading role.

For his part, Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs Fernando Araújo suggested analysis and review of the concept of sovereignty. "Sovereignty of peoples should take precedence over territories," he elaborated.

His Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro added that his government would not let the United States turn the General Assembly into a "culprit's bench."

"We expect the delegation of the empire to observe the agenda," he warned.

Translated by Conchita Delgado