Petro says that the weapons that kill civilians in southwestern Colombia come from Ecuador

Bogotá.- Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Sunday that the weapons and explosives used by armed groups to attack civilians in the department of Cauca (southwest) enter from Ecuador, a country with which his government is experiencing diplomatic tension. “The weapons with which civilians are killed in Cauca come from Ecuador: ammunition and explosives enter through the border,” the president affirmed in a long message published on his X account. Petro’s comments come eight days after the attack on the Pan-American Highway, near the town of Cajibío, in the department of Cauca, which left at least 20 civilians dead and more than 30 injured, and which the government attributes to dissident FARC groups. The president did not give details about the origin of his statement, but last Monday, in an address to the country, he ordered the heads of the Armed Forces to investigate whether the explosives used in that attack came from Ecuador.

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Alleged Ties to Mafias

The leader, who has a tough confrontation with his Ecuadorian counterpart, Daniel Noboa, insinuated that there are “connections between the Choneros gang from northern Ecuador, which was led by alias ‘Fito’, and the government” of that country. Alias Fito is the drug trafficker José Adolfo Macías, who in January 2024 escaped from a prison in Guayaquil, an event that unleashed a wave of violence in Ecuador and led Noboa to declare war on drug trafficking groups. Following his recapture in June 2025, Fito was extradited to the United States on July 20th and became the first major Ecuadorian drug trafficker tried in that country in a New York court. “What Noboa has done is use Colombia and my government to divert the debate from the powerful Ecuadorian politicians linked to drug trafficking,” Petro assured. According to the president, those links “between politics, power and drug trafficking” elevate the power of the mafias, and “that’s why Ecuador became the world’s largest exporter of cocaine and has a homicide rate that is double that of Colombia.”

Sabotage of Colombia’s Peace Program

Petro also stated “that from Ecuador the Colombian peace program and the massive and voluntary eradication of illicit crops are being sabotaged” because, he said, “the Ecuadorian mafia and its politicians don’t like that.” “They seek to harass militarily and escalate the conflict to sabotage the presidential elections of next May 31 in Colombia in order to benefit the right-wing opposition,” added the president.

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Tensions between Bogotá and Quito have intensified in recent months following cross-accusations between Petro and Noboa regarding the handling of drug trafficking and security on the common 586-kilometer border. The bilateral crisis was aggravated because Ecuador progressively raised tariffs on products Colombian up to 100%, a measure promoted by Noboa under the argument that Colombia does not strongly combat drug trafficking on the border, giving rise to a trade war that even led the two governments to call their ambassadors in Bogota and Quito for consultations.