Ecuador's president rejects allegations that his government is bombing
targets inside Colombia
[March 18, 2026]
By MANUEL RUEDA
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Ecuador’s president on Tuesday rejected
allegations that his country is bombing targets in neighboring Colombia
as tensions escalate between the two South American nations.
President Daniel Noboa said on X that his government “is fighting narco
terrorism in all its forms” and “bombing places that serve as hideouts
for those groups, of which many are Colombian," but only within
Ecuadorian territory.
Noboa was responding to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who on Monday
accused Ecuador of bombing targets on Colombia’s side of the border. He
said a bomb had been found by Colombian officials, but provided no
evidence to back up his claim, adding that he asked U.S. President
Donald Trump to call Noboa and persuade him to stop the supposed
operations in Colombian territory.
On Tuesday, Colombian state owned broadcaster RTVC, published photos of
an unexploded bomb which it said had been found in a coca field, near
the nation's border with Ecuador.
The bishops of the border cities of Ipiales in Colombia and Tulcan in
Ecuador urged both governments to strengthen dialogue and cooperation to
find solutions to problems in the border region, including drug
trafficking.
“We are worried about the expansion of illicit activities that
deteriorate our social fabric and cause great damage to the
environment," the statement said.
The dispute comes as Colombia prepares for presidential elections in
May, and relations deteriorate between Colombia and Ecuador, two
neighboring nations that were once close commercial and security
partners.
In January, Noboa imposed a 30% tariff on Colombian imports, which he
later raised to 50%. The Ecuadorian president said Colombia has not done
enough to stop drug traffickers and rebel groups from crossing into
Ecuador, and said the tariffs, which he called a “security tax” will not
be lifted until Colombia takes firmer actions against criminal groups.
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Air Force personnel destroy an airstrip they suspect to be in use by
illicit aircrafts, in Milagro, Ecuador, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP
Photo/Cesar Muñoz)
Petro has denied accusations that his government is not acting
against drug traffickers who ship Colombian cocaine out of
Ecuadorian ports. The Colombian government has responded to
Ecuador’s tariffs by imposing its own duties on Ecuadorian goods.
Noboa, a conservative, has struggled to reduce drug violence in
Ecuador, where the homicide rate has quintupled over the past five
years, and a nightly curfew is now being imposed by the government
in four provinces in an effort to combat crime.
Recently Noboa’s government conducted a joint operation with U.S.
forces against a drug traffickers camp near Ecuador’s border with
Colombia, where drones, helicopters and river boats were deployed.
Petro, a leftist who was a member of a rebel group in his youth, has
attempted to stage peace talks with Colombia’s remaining rebel
groups under a strategy known as total peace.
Critics say the groups have used ceasefires with the government to
tighten their grip over rural communities, as they fight over
territory abandoned by the FARC, the guerrilla group that made a
peace deal with Colombia’s government in 2016.
___
Associated Press writer Gonzalo Solano contributed from Quito,
Ecuador.
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