Gustavo Petro accuses Ecuador of bombing Colombia, sparking new diplomatic crisis

By María Martín

The diplomatic crisis between Ecuador and Colombia, which has been simmering since January, has escalated dramatically following an unprecedented exchange of accusations between the presidents of the two countries. Colombian leader Gustavo Petro denounced on Monday that his country is being bombed from the neighboring country. “They are bombing us from Ecuador, and it’s not illegal armed groups,” he stated during a televised cabinet meeting.

Colombia President Gustavo Petro

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s response was almost immediate. “False. We are attacking narco-terrorist structures in Ecuadorian territory, which Petro’s government allows to operate freely in the area,” he told Semana magazine. Far from toning things down, Petro escalated the accusation, claiming that there were 27 charred bodies on the border, without specifying the location or date. With both leaders launching public attacks against each other, diplomatic channels are not only broken: they have completely collapsed.

The deterioration of relations began in January when Ecuador unexpectedly launched a trade war. Noboa announced the imposition of a 30% tariff on Colombian imports due to the “lack of reciprocity and firm action” on security. The measure, he said, would remain in place “until there is a real commitment” to combating drug trafficking and illegal mining along the border. Colombia denied the accusations of inaction from the outset and also questioned the tariff response, but the dispute has only escalated. Unable to reach an agreement, both countries now impose tariffs of up to 50%. The impact has been serious, for example, for patients in Ecuador, where those with serious illnesses depend on medications imported from Colombia.

The United States appears as an invisible protagonist in this crisis, although it is unclear whether its true role is that of mediator or instigator. A few weeks ago, Noboa announced joint anti-drug operations with Washington, with whom Petro is trying to mend relations after an unprecedented verbal exchange with Donald Trump. The Colombian president has stated that he requested the Republican’s mediation. “I asked Trump to act, to call the president of Ecuador because we don’t want to go to war. I am proud to have pulled Colombia out of the danger of missiles falling all over the world, but we also don’t expect to be bombed,” he told his ministers during the televised meeting.

Following Petro’s accusation, Noboa — who is facing his own internal crisis due to insecurity — has hardened his rhetoric and on Tuesday he lashed out at Colombian authorities: “From day one we have combated narco-terrorism in all its forms […] together with international cooperation [from the United States], we continue this fight, bombing the places that served as hideouts for these groups, largely Colombian, which your own government allowed to infiltrate our country due to negligence on your border. President Petro, your statements are false; we are acting in our territory, not yours.”

In reality, there are many questions surrounding the bombings along the nearly 600 kilometers (370 miles) of border separating the two countries. On February 3, the Colombian publication Revista Raya published a report on three bombings of drug labs on the border, which left dozens of people dead — many of them civilians — the perpetrators of which remain unknown. “The United States or Ecuador?” they asked. Based on testimonies from communities, local leaders, and institutional sources, their main hypothesis was that the explosions were the result of a covert operation, possibly carried out with drones from Ecuador and with U.S. support.

A month and a half later, President Petro appears to have taken up the challenge following the discovery of an explosive device in Colombian territory, although its size suggests it wasn’t dropped by a drone. According to official sources cited by Caracol Radio, it is a cylinder approximately one meter long and weighing 250 kilograms, which reportedly fell on March 6 from the Ecuadorian side of the border during an operation against criminal organizations. Even so, Petro himself acknowledged that the case is under investigation.

Despite this lack of certainty, the Colombian president reignited the confrontation on X. He asserted that the bombings do not appear to be the work of armed groups — “they don’t have planes” — nor of the Colombian security forces — “I didn’t give that order.” “The bombs are on the ground near families, many of whom have peacefully decided to replace their coca crops with legal ones,” he claimed. He also spoke of the charred bodies, deaths he had already mentioned on February 3 after leaving his meeting with Trump at the White House.

The current diplomatic crisis between Ecuador and Colombia has escalated without anyone being able to contain it — or even understand it. Colombia’s Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio expressed her bewilderment in an interview with EL PAÍS. “Ecuador argues that the increase in drug trafficking and violent deaths linked to contract killings is due to Colombia not doing enough on the border. We say that’s false,” she explained. “It has been our pressure that has caused these networks to shift south.” The minister also complained about the Ecuadorian attitude. “We went to Ecuador, and they had a script they refused to negotiate. They imposed sanctions that had nothing to do with the security problem, and we had to react to that.”

The two delegations are scheduled to meet with mediation from the Secretariat of the Andean Community on March 24 and 25 in Quito.

According to Professor Ronal Rodríguez of the University of La Sabana, much of the origin of this crisis lies “in the temperaments of Petro and Noboa.” He asserts that these two presidents “have prioritized their domestic agendas and political gains over a bilateral relationship that has historically been close.” This dynamic has created a “cascade effect” in which tensions, far from being resolved through diplomatic channels, are amplified publicly with mutual accusations. Furthermore, Noboa feels supported. “His relationship with the United States gives him unprecedented leverage with respect to Colombia and contributes to hardening his position in the conflict,” Rodríguez warns.
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Credit: El Pais