The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had “full knowledge” of the deadly
Colombian raid in March on a FARC rebel camp inside Ecuador that led to
a rupture in ties between Bogota and Quito, Ecuador’s Defense Minister
Javier Ponce said Thursday.
The CIA “had full knowledge of what was happening in Angostura,” the
border area in Ecuador where the attack took place, Ponce said while
presenting the results of an official investigation into the suspected
infiltration of Ecuador’s armed forces by US intelligence agents.
Investigators
“even detected a call by the CIA on the morning of March 1 announcing
the attack in Angostura,” the minister added.
In April, Ecuador’s
leftist President Rafael Correa sacked his defense minister and police
chief after alleging the CIA had infiltrated his country’s security
apparatus to help US ally Colombia.
The raid on the camp of the
Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killed more than
20 people, including FARC’s number-two guerrilla Raul Reyes, four
Mexicans and an Ecuadoran.
A diplomatic stand-off quickly ensued,
with Quito expelling Bogotá’s ambassador on March 3 and both sides
ordering thousands of troops to their common border.
While military tensions have eased, diplomatic relations between the neighbors have yet to be normalized.
The
FARC is Latin America’s oldest and most powerful insurgency, and has
been trying to topple the Bogotá government since the 1960s.