Members of the Ecuadoran Army mobilise to the Colombian border in Neuva Loja, Ecuador, 03 March 2008, after Raul Reyes, the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), had been killed 01 March 2008, along with 16 other rebels in an air raid into Ecuador. EPA/JOSE JACOMEFrom World Politics Review:
PUERTO NUEVO, Ecuador -- Camaraderie may be the key to military morale, but the 24 Ecuadorian troops traveling towards the Colombian border by helicopter maintain an eerie quiet. The Amazonian jungle stretches out below, apparently undisturbed but for the odd small farm or oil well. But appearances in the jungle can be deceiving. Under the foliage, invisible from the air, are FARC guerrilla bases and cocaine laboratories. The soldiers' mission over a five-day patrol covering around 25 kilometers will be to find and destroy them.
"It's a reality," says Gen. Fabián Narváez, the commander of Ecuadorian forces in the border region, referring matter-of-factly to what Colombia's long-running conflict means for its smaller neighbor. Since 2008, Narváez's forces have engaged FARC fighters on 14 occasions, most recently in February, when a female FARC guerrilla was shot and killed.
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My Comment: The key sentence in this report is the last one .....
Whether or not that is true, the government's resolve seems to ensure that this part of Ecuador will not follow in either Colombia's or Mexico's path towards widespread, drug-related violence.
I am sure that Ecuador has no interest to follow the footsteps of Colombia or Ecuador. The Ecuador Army will stay in the region, and with time they will kick out the FARC.