Analysts say that gesture mark distance between Caracas and Quito

Washington Experts believe that Correa seeks to improve relations with Washington

Quito. Reuters and AFP. Ecuador yesterday declined to join ALBA, a trade agreement that boosts Venezuela to oppose U.S. influence in the region, in a gesture which, according to analysts, brand distance between Caracas and radical political pragmatism Quito.

Venezuela, a major global exporters of oil, has set up financial aid and energy to its partners in Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua through agreements signed within the framework of ALBA with advantageous conditions.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian authorities sought yesterday to Colombia information on three Colombians who were captured on the eve for allegedly planning an attack against President Rafael Correa, who downplayed.

According to court the confession of those involved, two Colombians admitted having links with paramilitaries, but did not reveal by whom have been hired. They said that the payment was for one and a half million dollars.

The decision. Analysts believe that the entry of Ecuador in the ALBA would be a contradiction when the president Rafael Correa seek to improve their economic relations with the United States, its main trading partner.

"Correa is looking for a commercial rapprochement with the United States, obviously not an FTA, but other mechanisms. también más At this point, Correa's position is very different from that of Chavez, is critical but also more practical, "said Hugo Barber, director of the survey Datanálisis.

This is not the first time that Correa mark distances to reaffirm its political and economic independence from its ally Venezuela, despite maintaining good tune Caracas and Quito.

In 2007, the representative of Ecuador rejected a multi-million dollar credit offered Venezuela arguing that his country did not need funding.

The opposition tends to attack the Ecuadorian president accusing him of continuing part of the agenda of radical socialist Chavez in the political and economic.

However, Correa has so far ruled out going to nationalize key sectors of the economy, as did his Venezuelan par, despite early negotiations with the oil and mining in the country seeking to increase state participation in natural resources.

Ecuador had made its entry into the ALBA for re-entering Venezuela in the Andean Community (CAN), which Chavez abandoned in 2006 after some of its partners signed trade pacts with Washington that have not govern.

The ALBA was founded in 2004 by Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, as a counterweight to the Free Trade Area of the americas (FTAA).