Ecuador's Minister accuses Colombia of inaction on drugs

Ecuador's Interior Minister, John Reimberg, insisted on Thursday that Colombia is 'doing nothing' to combat drug trafficking and control its side of the border, which causes Ecuador to suffer the consequences of the increase in crime linked to drug trafficking. The minister indicated that Ecuador is cooperating 'with many countries' to attack drug trafficking, but that 'the main side, which is the producer of cocaine, is not doing what it has to do' to control the border, combat 'terrorist' groups, and coca crops that 'generate a criminal economy'. For this reason, he said, they had been analyzing 'in several meetings' the measure of applying a 30% tariff on imports from Colombia, which was announced on Wednesday by Ecuador's president, Daniel Noboa. 'Terrorist groups, dissident groups, are growing, are joining, are increasing crime, nothing is being done about it; and Ecuador, obviously, for being a border country suffers the consequences,' Reimberg affirmed in an interview with the medium Visionarias. The head of the Interior Ministry indicated that due to this supposed lack of border control by Colombia, they decided to intensify migration operations and also, since December 24, leave only one legal passage between the two countries. Colombia indicated that with Ecuador it maintains 'permanent cooperation' on security issues and that together they seized 86,786 kilos of cocaine in 2023, a figure that rose to 132,354 kilos in 2024 and to 195,862 kilos in 2025. Ecuador is experiencing an unprecedented violence crisis that the Government attributes to disputes between criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking. 'Imagine all the alternative routes where drugs, weapons, criminals who want to enter Ecuador pass,' he added. 'Cocaine production has increased, nothing is being done about it. All this we have been discussing in several security block meetings because it affects the security of Ecuadorians,' he stated. Noboa's decision also caused the neighboring country to announce the application of a 30% levy on the import of 20 products from Ecuador, in addition to the suspension of electricity sales. 'In reciprocity' to this last measure, Ecuador's Minister of Environment and Energy, Inés Manzano, announced that there will be a modification in the tariff for the transport of Colombian crude oil that passes through the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP). 2025 closed with a record number of homicides, counting around 9,300. 'You don't find any authority that is carrying out control activity on a main road.' 'The president is not taking last-minute measures.' For Reimberg, the measure is 'important' and 'fundamental' to 'get their attention and for them to begin to do the work they have to do on their border.'