Ecuador has no information in regards to FARC leaders seeking refuge within its borders, Ecuadorean Minister for Security Miguel Carvajal told Radio Caracol Monday.
Carvajal regrets that information on the supposed presence of these FARC bosses in Ecuadorean territory was leaked to the Colombian press rather than given to the Ecuadorean authorities.
He said that Quito had received no official information from Colombia Military forces and had requested before the Organization of States to be informed of “the sources of this information, which were distributed by a Colombian radio station, to see if they are verifiable or not”.
He stressed the importance of maintaining communications agreements between the two countries, so that they can continue to work towards the same goal.
He said that claims that Ecuador is protecting FARC guerrillas “are an insult to our thousands of soldiers that patrol the border.”
High annual military spending and the deployment of 13 000 troops at the border are evidence that Ecuador has “zero tolerance for illegal armed Colombian groups, who enter Ecuador, independent of their name or emblem,” he said.
RCN Radio broadcast last week that two members of the FARC secretariat are currently operating from Ecuador. The radio station said it had “official intelligence documents” that spoke of FARC presence in Ecuador.
