Ecuador increases military presence on the border with Colombia due to clashes

The increase in border surveillance seeks to prevent “irregular armed groups” from crossing into Ecuadorian territory.

The Armed Forces of Ecuador intensified their presence on the border with Colombia on Thursday (09.01.2022), given the clashes that have taken place in recent days in the neighboring territory between dissident groups of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian Army.

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The Joint Command of the Armed Forces said that the increase in border surveillance seeks to prevent these “irregular armed groups” from crossing into Ecuadorian territory.

The governor of the Colombian department of Nariño, Jhon Rojas, called on Tuesday for peace and dialogue with the armed groups, in search of a solution to the current climate of insecurity.

Rojas described as very worrying the situation of violence that occurs in his department, bordering Ecuador.

As an example of this, he mentioned the murder of three people in the municipality of Cumbal and similar events in the village of Jardín de Sucumbíos, in addition to what would be another act of bloodshed, yet to be confirmed, between illegal armed groups in the municipality of Magüí Payán.

In August, the Ecuadorian Armed Forces carried out a crossfire when they collided with a group of members of these organizations inside Ecuadorian territory, during a routine inspection of the border limit, which led to the arrest of two people.

In June there was also another similar confrontation, while other patrols have also found caches with weapons and explosives in recent months.

In the area of ​​the Ecuadorian cantons (municipalities) of San Lorenzo and Mataje, located near the border with Colombia, there have been several and recurrent forced disappearances of young people reported in recent months, allegedly recruited by these FARC dissident groups.