Country Reports on Terrorism 2007 - Ecuador

Ecuador's greatest counterterrorism and security challenge remained the presence of Colombian narcoterrorists on its Northern Border. In order to evade Colombian military operations, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) regularly used Ecuadorian territory for rest, recuperation, resupply, and training, thereby involving significant numbers of Ecuadorians in direct or indirect ways. The Government of Ecuador faced challenges in patrolling a porous 400-mile border, and the lack of adequate licit employment opportunities for Ecuadorians in the region have made the area vulnerable to narcoterrorist influence. Ecuadorian officials along the border believed the FARC's economic impact allowed it to buy silence and compliance.

Ecuador's response to this threat historically has been uneven, but it has improved of late. The government shifted troops to the border region, continued efforts to improve military-to-military information sharing with Colombia, and launched a domestic Northern Border development agenda in concert with international donors to spur economic development in the area. The Correa Administration, while maintaining the country's traditional neutrality with respect to the Colombian conflict, has firmly opposed armed encroachments of any kind across its borders. It has publicly expressed its desire to eliminate FARC presence within Ecuadorian territory. Despite some notable successes in this effort, insufficient resources and the challenging border region terrain have made it difficult to thwart cross-border incursions.

Despite constraints on their resources and limited capabilities, Ecuador's security forces conducted effective operations against FARC training and logistical resupply camps along the Northern Border. The Ecuadorian military significantly increased the number of operations along Ecuador's Northern border, especially at the end of the year. The Ecuadorian military destroyed FARC training, rest, and resupply camps; and confiscated weapons, communications equipment, explosives, explosives manufacturing equipment, and other support equipment. These operations also netted valuable information on FARC activities and infrastructure in and outside of Ecuador. Ecuadorian forces discovered and destroyed three cocaine producing laboratories and eradicated coca plants in at least two locations.

Ecuadorian police suspected several small and relatively minor Ecuadorian groups of domestic subversion and involvement in terrorism. A handful of other radical groups, including a radical self-proclaimed vestigial faction of the Alfaro Vive Carajo organization, were reputed to have ties with and support from Colombian narcoterrorists. As recently as June, Ecuadorian security forces conducted operations against this faction of the Alfaro Vive Carajo organization in an attempt to minimize their capacity to conduct subversive, disruptive, or terrorist activities.

The Ecuadorian legislature passed a landmark anti-money laundering law in 2005, criminalizing the laundering of illicit funds from any source, penalizing the undeclared entry of more than 10,000 USD in cash, and establishing a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Superintendent of Banks. There was one major case in process as of December 2007.

Ecuador's judicial institutions remained weak, susceptible to corruption, and heavily backlogged with pending cases. While the military and police have made numerous arrests, the judicial system had a poor record of achieving convictions. The Government of Ecuador established a Ministry of Justice on November 15 to reform the penal code and improve the prison system.