The drumbeats of war rise in the Andes **

Authorities have confirmed that a 21-year-old Mexican woman named Lucía Morett Alvarez was injured in the attack against a FARC camp in Ecuador that killed one of the Colombian rebel movement's high-ranking leaders. The incident is threatening to bring war to the Andean region between Colombia and allies Ecuador and Venezuela. This is the New York Times breakdown of the situation as of Tuesday. The L.A. Times explains the Colombians' incursion into Ecuador in its chase for FARC No. 2 Raul Reyes.

El Universal identified Morett Alvarez as a native of Mexico City and a graduate of the UNAM in the faculty of philosophy and letters. What was she doing in the highlands of Ecuador? Had she been on some sort of humanitarian mission? Was she a FARC insurgent in training? It's not yet clear. Ecuadorian military officials told the papers Morett Alvarez had suffered wounds to her legs and upper body, and was in "military custody."

Borders are closing, ambassadors are being recalled, diplomatic ties have been frozen, and the war of words is well underway. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has called Colombian president Alvaro Uribe "Dracula" and his country "the Israel of South America." Uribe's government has produced documents it says prove Chavez is a financial supporter of the FARC. Meanwhile, the Colombian rebels annouced on Tuesday a replacement for Raul Reyes, a man they're calling "Joaquín Gómez." * This post may be updated.

** Wednesday update: It appears the major tensions have thawed a bit, but Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa said today that if Ecuadorians had been among those killed by Colombia over the weekend, there would have been war by now.

* AP photo by Dolores Ochoa: Ecuadorian soldiers arrive on the border with Colombia.