US-backed airstrikes leave Ecuador border communities in fearFarmer Jose Pena looks for belongings amid rubble after a bomb dropped by the Ecuadoran army in the Lago Agrio region of Ecuador on the border with Colombia. LAGO AGRIO (ECUADOR) - A US-backed crackdown on drug cartels along the Ecuador-Colombia border has sparked accusations that security forces bombed farms, burned homes and detained and abused villagers. Ecuador's interior minister told AFP the March 6 strike was months in the making, and it targeted a camp run by Border Commandos guerrillas. - Shots fired -AFP visited the remote border zone and saw three buildings reduced to rubble, their scorched zinc roofing twisted among the debris. The operation has angered Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who recently alleged an unguided bomb fell into Colombia from Ecuador.

Source: Bangkok Post March 20, 2026 11:22 UTC