Colombia’s defense minister, Gabriel Silva, said Thursday that the recent successes against the FARC in the south of the country are due to improved cooperation with Ecuador’s armed forces.
Both the Ecuadorean and Colombian armed forces reported recent successes in combat against FARC guerrillas; the Colombian army claim to have killed nine and arrested three, and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa announced the killing of three guerrillas in the north of Ecuador.
According to Silva, these successes are thanks to improved relations and cooperation between the commanders of the two countries’ armed forces.
“I would like to stress that thanks to the presence of the Ecuadorean army in this zone we were able to dismantle a guerrilla camp and were able to kill three guerrilas … I would like to thank the Ecuadorean government for this presence and their cooperation in the fight against narcoterrorism that affects both countries,” the minister told Colombian press.
Silva said that the presence of both armies in the region will continue to result in successes against the FARC, who have been forced to peripheral areas of Colombia following a successful offensive campaign by the Colombian military over the past few year.
Following the Colombian attack on a FARC camp on Ecuadorean territory in March 2008, relations between the two countries worsened and both countries accused the other of failing to police the border region, which was plagued by illegal armed groups with links to drug trafficking. The relation between two countries improved after talks in September last year.