Colombian guerrillas detained in Ecuador

The Ecuadorian justice system sentenced five people accused of being members of the Border Commandos, a dissident group of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), to 13 years in prison for organized crime.

In a session held on Saturday, eight other people were sentenced to ten years in prison for the same crime.

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the convicts formed a network dedicated to money laundering and drug and arms trafficking, which operated on the border between Ecuador and Colombia for the past two years.

The trial followed a police operation in August 2024 that resulted in the arrest of 16 Ecuadorian citizens, some with criminal records for drug trafficking and possession, in five of Ecuador's 24 provinces.

During the operation, police seized seven luxury vehicles, 29 cell phones, 16 weapons, ammunition, computers and more than $100,000 (€85,500) in cash, among other evidence.

According to the police investigation, the criminal group was behind the shipment of cocaine to Mexico and Spain.

In January, four more people were linked to the case, including one of the alleged leaders of the Border Commands, Roberto Carlos Álvarez Vera, who was detained at the end of June in the United Arab Emirates and is awaiting extradition to Ecuador.

In April, a judge acquitted three of the defendants and summoned the remaining 17 to stand trial, 13 of whom were convicted on Saturday.

In May, the Ecuadorian government accused the Border Commands of murdering 11 soldiers during an operation against illegal mining in the eastern province of Orellana, which borders Colombia and Peru.

According to several non-governmental organizations, illegal mining in the Punino River basin in eastern Ecuador quadrupled in 2024.

In response, the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defense deployed more than 1,500 members of special forces, intelligence services and counterterrorism units to try to capture the killers.

The Border Commandos are one of the groups that rejected the peace agreement signed by the former FARC in 2016 and refused to lay down their arms, continuing their criminal activities.

The dissidents are engaged in peace negotiations with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has made resolving the more than 60-year conflict with armed groups one of the main objectives of his term.

The leader of this dissident group, Andrés Rojas, known as 'Araña', was captured in Colombia in February and is the subject of an extradition request by the United States due to drug trafficking charges.

Violence linked to illegal mining and drug trafficking is worsening in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, a key triangle in the production and transport of cocaine to the United States and Europe.