Colombia, Ecuador agree joint plan to tackle organized crime on border

Soldiers stand guard on the Ecuadoran side of a border crossing with Colombia, in Tufino, Ecuador, after Ecuador’s government announced the closure of its borders from Sunday to all foreign travelers due to the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), March 15, 2020. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

BOGOTA — The armed forces of Colombia and Ecuador on Wednesday signed an agreement to implement a plan to contain drug trafficking and organized crime on their shared border, authorities in both countries said.

Colombia and Ecuador share a porous border that stretches some 586 kilometers and where criminal gangs and illegal armed groups engage in smuggling and drug trafficking.

The border protection plan will carry out operations on a operational, tactical and strategic level among operational units as well as decisions to be agreed by both countries’ defense ministers, the joint command of Ecuador’s armed forces said in a statement.

“Efforts currently under our responsibility to eliminate drug trafficking, environmental crimes, smuggling, and other areas will not decline,” General Helder Giraldo, the general commander of Colombia’s military, said in another statement.

The government of Colombian President Gustavo Petro in November called on countries with which it shares a border to work together on a military offensive against illegal armed groups.

As well as Ecuador, Colombia shares a border with Brazil, Venezuela, Peru and Panama.

Colombia’s border regions are home to extensive crops of coca, the main ingredient in cocaine, drug labs and illegal oil refineries, as well as illegal armed groups with connections to Mexican drug cartels, according to security sources.

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