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Ecuador and the FARC, in a relationship without consent |
Marzo 09, 2008
In the last 10 years, the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) have looked for ways to become close to Ecuador through a 600 kilometer open border which include wooded and jungle - like areas. The occassions on which they got in, they were repelled by military and police authorities.
Friday june 16th of 2000. The Ecuadorian police dismantled a gang composed of three Ecuadorians who were supplying FARC guerrillas with munitions. Friday january 2th of 2004. Nine at night. Ecuadorian police capture the number four man in FARC hierarcy in Quito, Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera, alias Simón Trinidad. Saturday the 8th of 2007. A clandestine FARC detachment is operating in the Yanayaru area, in Sucumbíos. Ecuadorian military personnel destroyed that base.
FARC presence in Ecuador is not new. At least 50 times it has made news in Ecuador as the only Colombian armed group in the country in this last decade. Some times because they have infiltrated into Ecuadorian territory, have fought in border areas leaving casualties behind (over 20 guerrilla attacks have ocurred in the last ten years according to an armed forces evaluation in Sucumbíos), they have recruited minors and have used this country for storage; yet other times because their detachments deep in the jungle or their contacts for food and arms purchases have been dismantled.
Ecuador has an unconsented relationship with the FARC according to analysts. According to Patricio Haro, an expert on military issues, some facts bear this out as he bring Simón Trinidad's detention to mind.
Last monday the Colombian government complained of a supposed guerrilla relationship with Ecuador and showed douments obtained supposedly from Raúl Reyes' computer detailing dialogues between the FARC and Minister Gustavo Larrea in which the Ecuadorian government assumed a committment to change or relieve from command those military men hostile to the FARC. Larrea acknowledged having met with Reyes in march to solicit freedom for the hostages and that both Uribe and Sarkozy knew about it.
This revelation drew inmediate response. Last tuesday in Geneva, justice Minister Gustavo Jalkh assured that "Ecuador has a zero tolerance policy as to FARC presence in their territory" and about a month ago President Rafael Correa had said that Ecuador has 11 thousand troops on the border with Colombia at a cost of approximately one hundred million dollars.
According to statistical data, the defense ministry, last year 21 military operatives were conducted to dismantle illegal armed groups operating on the border. As an example, Defense Minister, Wellington Sandoval mentioned that "on april 24th of 2007, 24 irregular armed forces were captured and brought to justice".
Notwithstanding, controls have been insufficient, something that has been interpreted as "benevolence". "Governments could have better performance, a more clear position; the essential thing is to cooperate" says Alfredo Rangel, Director of the Security and Democracy Foundation in Colombia.
Due to radars-inefectiveness they didn't detect the incoming Raúl Reyes or the sovereignty violation on the part of Colombia - thus some areas have been left exposed, say analysts. "The FARC have used border areas as releif and replenish spots to conduct guerrilla warfare, this they have done in Ecuador and Venezuela", according to Rangel.
The FARC have entered across the border, a 600 kilometer area filled with jungle and thickly wooded areas which border the Esmeraldas, Carchi and Sucumbíos provinces. The Rumichaca International bridge is the main route between Ecuador and Colombia but there ard an infinite number of bridges. In Carchi there are some 23 passageways installed over the river which divides both countries. These are small connections, built out of tree trunks, which do not appear on any maps. Twenty two alternative roads have been detected in Sucumbíos alone. Local people speak of 100 routes by which FARC guerrillas enter operating on fronts 32 and 48 correspondent to the Putumayo and Nariño departments on Colombian territory.
FARC infiltrations in Ecuador and other countries, according to international affairs experts, are looking to fulfill an old dream: regional expansion and reaching "belligerent forces" status and not that of "terrorist organization" as they are considered by 31 nations in the European Community besides the United States and Colombia.
According to International Public Law, if a state accepts an armed group's belligerant status, that conflict ceases to be just a local phenomenon and becomes an international one. Furthemore that armed group can request diplomatic inmunity. "It would award them international legitimacy and the Colombian government sovereignty would be left in doubt" according to analysis by Grace Jaramillo, international relations expert.
The Ecuadorian government does not consider them belligerent. It calls them "irregular armed groups".
Spanish version
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