"We defend our sovereignty, and support the Ecuadorian people against imperialism, and for peace", Aida Guitierrez told Green Left Weekly at a protest outside the Colombian Consul in Merida on March 6.
From 9am people started to gather in Plaza Glorias Patrias, then marched down to the consul, where a document in rejection of Uribe's war policy was delivered.
The 500-strong action was part of the international day of action for peace in Colombia.
Asked what the message of the protest was, rally participant Magalu Pena told GLW: "That we all unite, all the people of Latin America, to achieve integration. That was the dream of Simon Bolivar."
Betty Osorio added: "We don't want poverty and we want equality between countries. No more of all the powerful countries of the world dividing the world into poverty."
There was heaps of vibrant chanting, although the cool rhythm is lost in translation.
The chants included: "No to war, towards peace"; "Colombia, friend, Venezuela is with you!"; "Ecuador, friend, Venezuela is with you!"; "Chavez/Correa, friend, the people are with you!"; "Uribe, fascist, you are a narco-terrorist"; "Everyone united against imperialist invasion"; and "No, we don't want to be a North American colony, and yes we are a potential Latin America!".
[Tamara Pearson is a member of the Australian Democratic Socialist Perspective, a Marxist tendency in the Socialist Alliance, currently living in Merida. This account is abridged from her blog, <http://gringadiary.blogspot.com>.]