Petro claims Ecuador has replaced Colombia as the world’s drug export and murder capital

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Tuesday that Ecuador has replaced Colombia as the world’s largest exporter of cocaine and claimed that government officials and judges in Ecuador are working “hand-in-hand” with drug traffickers.
He added that Ecuador has also overtaken Colombia for the title of “murder capital of Latin America.”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro

Petro’s comments, made during the dedication of a new hospital in Timbío, Cauca, added to recent social media attacks on Ecuador President Daniel Noboa, who has accused Petro of allowing drug traffickers free access across the border. The two countries are also engaged in a trade war that includes tariffs as high as 75%.

“Ecuador unfortunately has become the largest exporter of Colombian and Peruvian cocaine in the world,” Petro said, adding that more than 50% of the cocaine is concealed in containers of bananas. Noboa’s family is one of the largest exporters of bananas, most of its shipments going to European markets.

Petro claimed that Colombia “imposed decisive measures” to reduce cocaine shipments from its ports and that improved law enforcement has reduced the country’s murder rate. “As we can see, Ecuador is going in the opposite direction,” he said.

“In Ecuador, there is increasing articulation of corrupt politicians with the drug mafias,” Petro said, “and because of corruption, the government has the lost the ability to control it.” He said Ecuadorian officials know that drug traffickers are working with mafias in Dubai and Albania but have “done nothing to confront the foreign groups.”

Tensions between the two countries began in March when Noboa accused Colombia of not policing its side of the border and allowing cocaine shipments to flow unimpeded to ports in Guayaquil, Manta and Machala. When Noboa imposed trade tariffs on Colombia, Petro responded in kind and the two countries recalled their ambassadors.

Last week, the Andean Community of Nations, of which both Ecuador and Colombia are members, ordered that the tariffs be removed but it is unclear if the countries will comply.

Noboa has said he will wait until Petro leaves office in August before he begins “serious talks” with Colombia. Polls for Colombia’s May 31 presidential election show leftist Iván Cepeda, a member of Petro’s Pacto Histórico party, with a commanding lead over a large field of candidates.