Ecuador’s military announced on Wednesday that they dismantled a FARC camp located in the border area with Colombia, between the provinces of Carchi and Sucumbios. The camp had the capacity to manufacture explosives. There were no arrests made.
According to the prosecutor of the area, Marlon Escobar, the army found “a complete camp with sleeping areas, a kitchen, and even a casino”. There were also batteries, wires, clips and other materials that the guerrillas “used to make explosives.”
Colonel Luis Lara, a battalion commander located near the area, said the base had a capacity to house up to 30 men.
According to the military, in 2009, Ecuador located in its territory 187 clandestine camps belonging to Colombian irregular armed groups.
The Ecuadorian government tightened control of its 680 km long border with Colombia after a Colombian military strike against a FARC base in their territory on March 1, 2008, that killed 25 people, including Raul Reyes, the FARC’s number two commander.
The incident led Ecuador to freeze diplomatic relations with Colombia. The neighboring nations formed a “Commission on Sensitive Subjects” in early March 2010 in a move towards reinstating diplomatic relations.
Ecuador is demanding hard evidence of accusations by Colombia that files belonging to Raul Reyes found in the 2008 raid indicated complicity between Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s government and the FARC.
Colombia continues to refuse to provide the actual files.