Alonso Soto - Ecuador's leftist president on Saturday accused the CIA of controlling many of his country's spy agencies and said it had shared Ecuadorean intelligence with U.S. ally Colombia during last month's regional crisis.

"Many of our intelligence agencies have been taken over by the CIA," Rafael Correa said during his weekly radio show. "Through the CIA, information found here was passed to Colombia to improve their position" in the dispute.

Ecuador broke off diplomatic ties with Bogota after Colombian forces attacked a rebel camp inside Ecuadorean territory, killing a top guerrilla leader and more than 20 other people.

The bombing raid raised the specter of war after Ecuador and Venezuela briefly sent troops to their borders with Colombia. Nerves quickly calmed during a regional meeting.

But the recent confirmation that an Ecuadorean died in the March 1 raid has renewed tensions between the neighbors. Correa charged the United States with financing some officers in the Ecuadorean spy agencies and said reforms to the Andean country's intelligence were needed.

A close ally of U.S. foe Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Correa said he hoped the diplomatic spat would be over soon, but warned of legal actions against Colombia for the killing of the Ecuadorean citizen who was in the rebel camp.

Correa added that Ecuador's decision on to sue Colombia in international court over Colombia's anti-drug spraying along its border was in retaliation for the raid. The suit filed on Monday has again strained relations between the neighbors who share a 400-mile border often crossed by rebels fighting a four-decade war against the Colombian government. Correa, whose popularity has rebounded for his handling of the dispute, is a critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.

He has said President George W. Bush was worse than Satan and once vowed to cut off his arm before renewing a lease that allows U.S. troops to use a key anti-drug air base.