The discovery in Colombia of an unexploded bomb on the border with Ecuador, which, according to President Gustavo Petro, was launched in a bombing raid from neighboring territory, further strained relations between the two countries, which have been involved in a trade war since February.
Around midnight, Petro declared in a televised cabinet meeting that his country had been bombed, after the bomb was found near the border with Ecuador.
“A bomb dropped from a plane was found. The methods used will be investigated thoroughly, very close to the border with Ecuador, which in a way confirms my suspicion, but it is necessary to investigate well, because we are being bombed from Ecuador and it is not the armed groups,” he said.
The president also noted that he asked his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in a phone call last week to “take action and call the president of Ecuador” because his country does not want to “go to war.”
Verbal comparison
President Daniel Noboa on Tuesday denied Petro’s accusation and said his country’s recent military operations against organized crime near the border with Colombia, with U.S. support, took place on Ecuadorian territory.
“President Petro, your statements are false; we are acting on our territory, not yours,” said Noboa on X, where he accused Colombia of sheltering the family of drug trafficker and organized crime boss José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias Fito, as well as the former presidential candidate of the Correísta movement Luisa González.
The Ecuadorian president added that “while in Colombia they are giving space to ‘Fito’s’ family, who crossed the border during the national curfew, coincidentally at the same time as former candidate Luisa González”, his government will continue “cleaning and rebuilding Ecuador”.
The verbal confrontation did not cease and the Colombian president responded on X that the bombings in the border region left “27 charred bodies”, without giving details of this information, and stated that the explanation for the attacks “is not credible”, in an apparent reference to Noboa’s statement.
“There are 27 charred bodies and the explanation is not credible. The bombs are on the ground near families, many of whom have peacefully decided to replace their coca plantations with legal crops,” wrote the Colombian president.
Trade war and the fight against drug trafficking
This new controversy arises amid the deterioration of relations between Bogotá and Quito, marked by a trade war started in January by the president of Ecuador, who imposed a 30% “security tax” on Colombian products, later raised to 50%.
Colombia responded with tariffs on dozens of products and suspended electricity supplies to Ecuador, while the Andean country increased the cost of transporting Colombian crude oil through its pipelines.
Likewise, last week, Ecuador and the USA signed an agreement that formalizes the opening of the first FBI (Federal Department of Investigation) office in the country, which will aim to support the fight against international organized crime groups.
This agreement complements the joint military operations that both countries began earlier this month in Ecuador against “terrorist” organizations, in which they bombed and destroyed a training camp for the Border Commands, a dissident group of the Colombian FARC guerrillas.
