By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador said on Tuesday it may imposetrade restrictions on Colombia as the neighbouring countriesbacked away from a plan to restore low-level diplomaticrelations this week.
The rift started in March when Colombia attacked a Marxistrebel camp on Ecuador's side of the border. Ecuador broke offdiplomatic ties over the raid, which killed a top Colombianguerrilla leader.
"We do not discard the possibility of applying some traderestrictions on Colombia in the future," Ecuadorean ForeignMinister Isabel Salvador told reporters.
Left-wing Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who hasclashed with Colombia's conservative leader, Alvaro Uribe, saidover the weekend that his country was aggrieved by Colombia'sactions throughout the dispute and that Ecuador would be theone to set a timetable for re-establishing relations.
The countries were set to renew ties this week at the levelof charges d'affaires in a deal brokered by former U.S.President Jimmy Carter.
"But the recent statements by President Correa have closedthe possibility of advancing this process," Colombian ForeignMinister Fernando Araujo told local radio early on Tuesday.
The Organization of American States called on both sides tostop making public statements of a distancing nature and get onwith restoring ties.
But the tough talk continued.
"Once again, Colombia's government has shown a lack ofcoherence in its position," Salvador said, responding toAraujo.
Both South American countries will renew ties eventually inorder to protect trade and cooperate on security matters,predicted Michael Shifter, a senior fellow at Inter-AmericanDialogue, Washington-based think tank.
"But right now, the distrust is so deep and tensions are sohigh that it seems any comment can set off an exaggeratedreaction," Shifter said.
Colombia says computer files found in the destroyed rebelcamp show that Ecuador and Venezuela had secret ties to theoutlawed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC,a charge both countries deny.
Venezuela and Ecuador both reinforced troops on theirColombian borders in the weeks after the March bombing raid,briefly raising the spectre of armed conflict betweengovernment forces.
Colombia's four-decade-old guerrilla war often spills intoneighbouring countries, causing diplomatic tensions.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia)