At least 11 Ecuadorean troops killed in fight against illegal mining

FARC dissidents were said to be behind the ambush

At least 11 Ecuadorean troops were killed Friday in an ambush during an operation against illegal gold mining in the Alto Punino sector of the Amazon, near the Colombian border in Napo and Orellana provinces.

The 19th Napo Jungle Brigade was “attacked by the organized criminal group Comandos de la Frontera during a reserved mining control operation that the Army was carrying out in the area, according to the first investigations,” the Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. The outlaws used explosives, grenades, and rifles, it was also explained.

“We will not rest until those responsible are judged before the law and are held accountable for this crime against brave Ecuadoreans who have given their lives for the good of the country,” stressed the Army.

A trial against thirteen alleged Comandos de la Frontera members for organized crime is ongoing, following their arrests in September 2024.

Intelligence reports suggested mining mafias also hired foreign ex-combatants for security, complicating the conflict. Besides illegal gold mining, these groups also engage in other activities such as drug trafficking, extortion, and kidnapping.

The escalation in violence is directly linked to the dispute for control of illegal gold and intensified after the arrest last March of Dario P., alias “Topo”, a mining leader of the Los Choneros gang. His surrender was facilitated by the criminal gang “Los Lobos”, marking a shift in the criminal map of mining in the area. This transfer of power would have triggered reprisals. Illegal mining, linked to criminal gangs like Los Lobos, has devastated 1,500 hectares of jungle in the area since 2019.

In neighboring Peru, the government decreed on May 5 a curfew in the district of Pataz, where 13 workers of the Poderosa gold mine were kidnapped and murdered, and ordered the Armed Forces to take control of the area.