Ecuador this month withdrew a five-year-old complaint against Colombia in which it had accused its neighbor of causing cross-border environmental damage while spraying herbicides from planes to eradicate coca crops. The Sept. 12 move, announced just five days before the International Court of Justice in The Hague was to hold oral arguments in the case, came as part of a settlement under which Colombia will pay US$15 million toward Ecuadorian border-region development projects. In what they described as a “friendly, final and definitive solution,” the two countries appeared to put an end to a controversy that has tested bilateral relations since Ecuador filed its complaint in March of 2008. In that complaint, Ecuador alleged Colombia’s aerial fumigation of coca crops... [Log in to read more]