Ecuador’s Defense Minister said Tuesday he does not believe that Colombia is plotting to destabilize its southern neighbor as alleged by guerrilla group FARC.
The rebels had earlier accused the Colombian goverment of carrying out plans to destabilize the government of Rafael Correa through paramilitary agents in Ecuador.
But according to Defense Minister Javier Ponce, the FARC’s accusations are mostly aimed to cause “a media controversy inside Colombia.”
The Defense Minister confirmed Ecuador’s northern border region has suffered under the incursion of paramilitary drug gangs, but “talking about a plan to destabilize the Government of Ecuador would require more elements of analysis.”
However, Ponce did express his concern about the ongoing paramilitary incursions as well as that of leftist FARC and that Ecuadorean forces are fighting the presence in the border region of both.