Leaders of Colombia and Ecuador commerce allegations after Gustavo Petro says 27 charred our bodies discovered on nation’s border.
Printed On 17 Mar 2026
Bogota, Colombia – Colombian President Gustavo Petro has mentioned that 27 charred our bodies have been found on his nation’s joint border with Ecuador, simply in the future after suggesting the Ecuadorean army might have bombed Colombian territory.
“The bombings alongside the Colombia-Ecuador border don’t seem like the work of armed teams—they don’t have plane—nor of the Colombian safety forces. I didn’t give that order,” wrote Petro in a put up on X on Tuesday morning.
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The accusation comes amid a US-backed Ecuadorean military campaign in opposition to armed teams within the area launched earlier this month; Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa maintained that each one strikes have occurred inside his nation’s borders.
The dispute started throughout a cupboard assembly on Monday night time, the place Petro speculated in regards to the origins of a bomb which he mentioned was “dropped from an aeroplane” close to Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador.
“We’re going to completely examine the circumstances – it occurred very near the border with Ecuador – which considerably confirms my suspicion, however we have to examine completely: they’re bombing us from Ecuador, and it’s not the armed teams,” mentioned the president.
Afterward Tuesday, Colombia’s Ministry of Nationwide Defence issued a press release saying safety forces and specialists had been deployed to the world “to evaluate the situation of this explosive gadget so as to decide its origin and proceed with its destruction”.
Noboa dismissed Petro’s accusations on Tuesday morning, writing on X: “President Petro, your declarations are false, we are performing in our territory, not yours.”
The precise particulars of the assault are but to be established, in line with Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy Latin America director on the Worldwide Disaster Group, a Brussels-based suppose tank, “It’s very unclear if this got here from Ecuador, what occurred, who precisely was hit.”
However the alleged bombing comes simply weeks after the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) introduced it had launched joint operations with the Ecuadorean army to combat drug trafficking within the South American nation.
In early March, Ecuador’s armed forces bombed a camp belonging to the Comandos de la Frontera (Border Commandos), a Colombian armed group energetic on each side of the nations’ shared border. The operation was carried out in Ecuador with the assistance of US intelligence, in line with Quito.
In February, Noboa imposed a 30 p.c tariff on Colombia, which he described as a “safety charge”. Bogota responded with reciprocal tariffs, and the dispute has since escalated to a mutual 50 p.c import levy.
Noboa is beneath mounting strain to deal with organised crime, with Ecuador recording the very best murder fee in Latin America final yr.
He has tried to shift blame onto Bogota, which he accuses of failing to deal with insecurity on the 2 nations’ joint border, a key unlawful gold mining hub and cocaine trafficking hall.
Dickinson defined that Noboa hopes to strain Petro into adopting a extra militaristic stance in opposition to armed teams alongside their shared border.
However, she famous, “This bilateral disaster between the 2 sides does much more hurt than good in fixing this drawback, as a result of what you actually need to confront a transnational menace is a transnational response.”
