After Colombia’s raid on the FARC rebels based in Ecuador, Venezuela and Ecuador shut down their embassies in Bogota and deployed tanks and troops at their Colombian borders, raising worries for a possible confrontation.

In the cross-border incursion into Ecuador, the Colombian forces killed Raul Reyes, the 59-year-old number two commander of the FARC rebels. This caused the indignation of the Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and his Venezuelan counterpart and ally, Hugo Chavez. Ecuador has announced the break off of diplomatic ties with Colombia as of today.

“The government of Ecuador has decided to break off diplomatic relations with the government of Colombia starting today,” a statement from Ecuador's foreign ministry said.

Venezuela demanded the immediate expulsion of Colombia’s ambassador “in defense of homeland sovereignty and the dignity of the Venezuelan people.”

The tensions rose when Colombian officials said they found documents acknowledging ties between the FARC rebels and the Ecuadorian President.

Other documents referred to the fact that Venezuela had paid $300 million to FARC and implied the fact that the rebels intend to buy uranium.

Gen. Oscar Naranjo also presented a document suggesting that rebels have had financial ties with President Chavez since 1992, when he was imprisoned for orchestrating a coup attempt.

“When they mention negotiations for 50 kilos of uranium this means that the FARC are taking big steps in the world of terrorism to become a global aggressor. We're not talking of domestic guerrilla but transnational terrorism,” said Naranjo, without elaborating, the Associated Press quoted.

Colombian officials said that they will submit the documents found in the computer of the dead rebel leader to the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS), scheduled to meet Tuesday.

Moreover, Ecuadorian President claimed Monday that the Colombian raid had stopped the negotiations with the FARC rebels for the release of 11 more hostages, including the French-Colombian former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. Rafael Correa said that the negotiations had reached an “advanced stage,” and the hostages were allegedly to be handed over in Ecuador sometimes in March.

Colombian government shot back in a statement saying that “What the documents show looks more like trafficking in hostages for political ends.”

Both Venezuela and Ecuador dismissed the allegations. Venezuelan Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin called Colombia’s accusations “absolute fabrications.”

The US state department of defense spokesman Tom Casey said that the United States backed Colombia in the operation to combat the FARC rebels, who “have been making life miserable for the people of that country for more than 20 years, and certainly there should be no one out there under any illusions as to what kind of organization they are.”

The FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) are considered by the U.S. and E.U. officials a terrorist group, engaged in drug trafficking and kidnapping. The rebels are said to hold 40 political hostages, which they intend to free in exchange of their fellow rebels in governmental jails. More than 700 people are believed to be kept hostages for ransom.

Due to the U.S. billion-dollar financial support, President Uribe has succeeded in driving back the FARC militants to remoter areas, an operation that clearly reduced the number of bombings and attacks orchestrated by the FARC.