It began with an incursion into Ecuadorian territory across the Putumayo River by the Colombian military on March 1, 2008, leading to the deaths of over twenty militants, including Raúl Reyes (nom-de-guerre of Luis Edgar Devia Silva) and sixteen other members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

[2] In 2007, Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan President and Piedad Córdoba, a Colombian Senator, were acting as authorised mediators in the ongoing Humanitarian Exchange negotiations between the FARC and the government of Colombia.

[7] In the weeks before the incursion, that is, the second half of February 2008, it was revealed that the Colombian government, with assistance from the United States' FBI and DEA, had wiretapped several satellite phones that were used by FARC forces in Southern Colombia.

[9][10] According to an unnamed Colombian military source, an international call made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to Raúl Reyes, using one of these satellite links, was intercepted on February 27.

[13] On February 27 and into the next day, several members of the FARC 48th Front were captured by Colombian security forces near the Ecuadorian border, taking away some support from the main group.

[20] According to the Ecuadorian government, the attack happened 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) inside its own territory, lacked its permission and was a planned strike, intended to be followed by the incursion of Colombian troops by helicopter.

Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa had reason to believe that the Colombian warplanes had penetrated 10 km into Ecuador's territory and struck the guerrilla camp while flying north, followed by troops in helicopters who had completed the killings.

[21] The Ecuadorian authorities found three wounded women in the camp, including a Mexican student who was identified as Lucía Andrea Morett Álvarez.

[22][23] Lucía Morett claimed that she was visiting the guerrilla group as part of an academic investigation, refusing to answer other questions about the circumstances surrounding her presence there.

President Uribe of Colombia spoke by telephone with his Ecuadorian counterpart, Rafael Correa, early on the morning of the raid, to inform him of the incident.

[28] In a press conference that evening, Correa denounced the attack as "aggression" against Ecuador, calling it a "massacre," and claiming that the rebels had been killed in their sleep using "advanced technology".

[34] The Colombian foreign ministry affirmed, however, that Raúl Reyes had "directed, for many years, criminal operations in the southern part of our country, covertly, from Ecuadorian territory, without the approval of its government".

[35] The Colombian National Police also held a press conference, at which it revealed a series of documents taken from the guerillas, which allegedly implicated both Venezuela and Ecuador in FARC activities (see below).

"[citation needed] He added that "We encourage revolutionary firmness, not to forego any effort that supports a humanitarian exchange, and to continue in our intentions for peace and construction of an effective democracy, with social justice.

On 3 March, a statement from Venezuela's foreign ministry announced the decision to expel Colombia's ambassador and all diplomatic staff at the Colombian embassy in Caracas.

[43] In a ten-hour emergency meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States on the afternoon March 4, Ecuador urged the OAS to condemn Colombia's violation of its territorial integrity.

The report also criticized the communication and institutional command structure of the Ecuadorian police and military as failing to keep civilian leaders sufficiently informed of intelligence and facts on the ground before the attack.

The OAS resolution called on Secretary General José Miguel Insulza to form a commission to investigate the incident on both sides of the border, as well as to help resolve the diplomatic crisis.

[58] On 7 March, at a Rio Group summit held in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, the presidents of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua publicly shook hands, in a show of goodwill.

[91] Social organizations and international development assistance increased their investment in peacebuilding initiatives in the border region[92] to complement the top-down dialogue with grassroots conflict resolution capacity building.