Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa again called on Colombia to increase surveillance along their mutual border, after activating two military security points in the region on Monday.
“I wish you, dear journalists, bear witness to what we are experiencing here: new military outposts to guard our national sovereignty against anything,” said Correa, in a speech in the Ecuadorean border town of El Palmar Monday.
“This is the reality of the northern border – dozens of Ecuadorean outposts and yet, the Colombian state is unfortunately absent,” Correa explained to the military high command and a hundred or so soldiers.
According to Ecuador’s Defense Minister, Correa inaugurated two outposts in El Palmar and Cantagallo, on the border with the Colombian department of Putumayo, with an overall capacity of about 240 men, reported Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.
Ecuador and Colombia share a frontier extending some 720km. It is a volatile region highly active with guerrilla groups, paramilitaries and drug traffickers.
The governments of both countries are in the process of restoring diplomatic relations which have been broken since March 2008 when the Colombian military went into Ecuadorian territory and bombed the guerrilla camp of FARC boss ‘Raul Reyes’, killing the leader himself and 25 others.
On Monday the governments of both countries officially reopened their embassies in Bogota and Quito and hope to return their relations to previous prosperity once they have overcome “sensitive issues” and appointed their new ambassadors.