SNAPSHOTS

Ecuador: Colombian Drug Violence Spills Over

Mar 27, 2018 | 18:58 GMT

(Stratfor)

Highlights

  • Former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are attacking Ecuadorian security forces to deter law enforcement from addressing cocaine trafficking.
  • Competition for cocaine trafficking routes in southwestern Colombia will continue, meaning traffickers will also try to export cocaine along northwestern Ecuadorian routes.
  • Ecuador's government may establish a closer security relationship with the United States to deal with the persistent problem. 

A spate of attacks against Ecuadorian security forces near the Colombian border is the latest sign that areas of post-insurgency Colombia will drive violence at home and abroad. On March 26, unidentified attackers -- believed by Ecuadorian authorities to be former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -- damaged an army truck using an explosive device. The incident is the latest in a series of explosive attacks against army and police units in northwestern Ecuador. In 2018 there have been four separate attacks against Ecuadorian forces in Esmeraldas province, all believed to be carried out by the same former FARC militants. ...

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