CARACAS/QUITO — Leftist allies Venezuela and Ecuador escalated a crisis with Colombia on Monday, cutting diplomatic ties after their neighbor raided inside Ecuador in an attack that sparked troop deployments and warnings of war. Colombia also fueled the tensions by accusing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of funding Marxist rebels in its country — a charge denied by the anti-U.S. president’s government. The crisis erupted when Colombia flew troops into Ecuador on Saturday in a bombing raid that killed a senior rebel of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. It was a major blow to Latin America’s oldest rebel group and also eliminated a key contact for governments, such as France, Venezuela and Ecuador, in talks to free hostages held by FARC for years in jungle camps. Chavez has brokered the release of six captives since the start of the year in those negotiations. On Monday, Venezuela and Ecuador said they had been close to securing freedom for the most high-profile hostage, French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt. ‘The hand of authoritarian war-mongers wrecked everything,’ Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on the eve of a Latin American tour — including Venezuela — to lobby for support. […]