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MANAGUA - NICARAGUA broke off diplomatic ties with Colombia, widening a Latin American crisis over a raid by Colombia on a rebel camp inside Ecuador last Saturday.
Venezuela and Ecuador have also cut relations with Colombia and poured troops to their borders with the United States-backed state in reaction to the cross-border raid, which prompted leftist allies to line up against against Colombia.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, an ex-guerrilla whose country is in a territorial dispute with Colombia, said on Thursday he was breaking off relations 'in solidarity' with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who was visiting Managua.
Mr Ortega's move strengthened the leftist alliance that has formed around Ecuador and Venezuela and left their neighbour Colombia increasingly isolated.
Some national leaders criss-crossed the region seeking to build diplomatic pressure on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
With governments worldwide, including the United States and Russia, calling for a negotiated solution, Colombia downplayed fears over what would be the first military conflict between Latin America nations in more than a decade.
'I don't think there is a risk of war. The Colombian government has been very clear it won't use force,' Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos said during a visit to Brussels for talks with EU officials.
'It won't fall into the game of provocation.'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who says socialism can unite South America against what it calls 'US imperialism', jumped into the dispute during the weekend.
He had been feuding for months with Colombia over his efforts at mediating the release of hostages held by the Farc guerrillas. A Farc leader who was negotiating prisoner releases was among those killed in the Colombian cross-border raid.
A self-styled socialist revolutionary and Cuba ally, Mr Chavez is the leader of a left-wing group of Latin American nations who get financial aid from Venezuela, a major oil exporting nation.
Most Latin American countries support Colombia against the Marxist Farc rebels. But many, including diplomatic heavyweight Brazil, have also condemned Mr Uribe for the raid and demanded he apologise to Ecuador. -- REUTERS
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