1 The presidents of Ecuador and Peru continue to benefit from flaring nationalistic passions even as their Andean nations' border conflict ebbs from armed confrontations into angry words.
2 Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is running for re-election in April, but the campaign has been virtually forgotten since the fighting started. His major opponents have ceased their criticism and unified against Ecuador.
3 At the same time, Ecuadorean President Sixto Duran-Ballen is basking in new popularity since skirmishes broke out. He addresses large crowds several times a day from a balcony of the presidential palace in downtown colonial Quito, Ecuador's capital.
4 On Wednesday, envoys from both nations met for the second day in Rio de Janeiro with representatives of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and the United States to find a peaceful solution to the dispute.
5 But the animosity between delegates from Peru and Ecuador was strong enough to require their lunches to be served in separate rooms.
6 Ecuador announced a cease-fire Tuesday in the fighting, but Peru refused to accept it. Both countries said skirmishes continued Wednesday in the Cenepa River jungle 350 kilometers (220 miles) southeast of Quito.
7 Ecuador said it would not join the Rio meeting unless Peru agreed beforehand to an unconditional cease-fire. Peru insisted a truce be devised at the meeting.
8 'We're so darned close to getting a cease-fire. It would be a shame to leave without having achieved it,' said Alexander F. Watson, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs.
9 Ecuador accused Fujimori of lying when he told Lima newspaper editors Peru had captured 32 Ecuadorean soldiers and was using them as guides against their own troops in the remote jungle region.
10 'This is intended to demoralize our forces, which remain firm in the defense of the national territory,' government spokesman Enrique Proano said.
11 Ecuador has conducted an active propaganda campaign to paint Peru as the aggressor nation. Peru has been less effective in presenting its side to the international community.
12 The difference reflects the styles of Fujimori and Duran-Ballen.
13 Fujimori, a taciturn authoritarian, has had little contact with the media since fighting began last Thursday over an unmarked, 80-kilometer-long (50-mile-long) portion of the border.
14 Instead, he has appeared on television as commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces, visiting troops massed along Peru's northern border with Ecuador.
15 But he has become the nation's leader against a common enemy, and his recent seven-point drop in public opinion polls has been forgotten.
16 'I think that this favors his re-election plans, because the tendency of the population is to support its leader in national emergencies,' said Jorge Chavez, former president of Peru's Central Bank.
17 Duran-Ballen's popularity dropped to under 10 percent last year because of his severe austerity program and his image as a weak leader. But on Monday, he was euphoric as he addressed thousands of high school students who chanted, 'We want weapons!'
18 On Wednesday, the white-haired Duran-Ballen, 73, addressed another gathering of thousands that swelled the plaza in front of the palace.
19 'It's beautiful,' he said afterward.

On Wednesday , envoys from both nations met for the second day in Rio de Janeiro with representatives of Brazil , Argentina , Chile and the United States to find a peaceful solution to the dispute .
solution
Did they ever find a solution over their border disagreement?