The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboastated this Thursday that agreements cannot be reached with a Government that does not have “the same commitment” to fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, in reference to Colombiaafter raising the tariff rate to 100% for products from the neighboring country.
In his X account, the Ecuadorian president also assured that violent deaths had been reduced by 33% since the start of the trade war, which he started to pressure Colombia to reinforce security on the border to combat organized crime.
LOOK HERE: Ecuador will raise tariffs on Colombia from 50% to 100% and the trade war intensifies
Furthermore, he indicated that “In the future, we will be able to talk with a Government that is committed to combating crime and drug trafficking.”.
His statement comes after the Ecuadorian Government announced an increase in tariffs from 50% to 100% for Colombian products, a measure that the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petrocrossed out “monstrosity”.
The trade war between the two, two countries with a long and strong commercial relationship, began with the imposition of 30% tariffs from February 1, which were subsequently raised to 50% from March 1.
In recent years, trade was around 2.8 billion dollars, with a negative balance for Ecuador of around 900 million.
The tariff escalation was accompanied by other reciprocal sanctions in energy matters.
Colombia cut off the electrical interconnection with Ecuador, which needs the supply of Colombian electricity when it has a generation deficit to meet internal demand.
Ecuador responded with an increase from 3 to 30 dollars in the price per barrel of oil transportation from the Colombian state company Ecopetrolthrough the oil pipelines operated by the Ecuadorian state company Petroecuador.
This announcement comes days after the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, assured that the former Correísta vice president Jorge Glas was a “political prisoner”, statements that Noboa classified as a “attack against sovereignty”, which is why he called the Ecuadorian ambassador in Bogotá for consultations.
“Now that they are trying to reinvent the ‘political prisoner’, I want to be emphatic: this constitutes an attack against our sovereignty and a violation of the principle of non-intervention, enshrined in Article 19 of the OAS Charter and in international law.”, Noboa published on his X account.
MORE INFORMATION: Ecuador’s tariffs are a “monstrosity,” says Petro, who considers the “end of the Andean Pact” for Colombia
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Gabriela Sommerfeldannounced this Wednesday that the technical tables between both countries scheduled for next week had been “suspended” until “find a conducive environment and good will” for dialogue.
Glas is being held in the maximum security prison of El Encuentro, with which Noboa seeks to replicate in Ecuador the prison model implemented in El Salvador by Nayib Bukelewhere he is serving an eight-year prison sentence for bribery and illicit association and another 13 years for embezzlement of public funds.
The former vice president was recaptured two years ago, when Noboa ordered an assault on the Embassy of Mexico in Quito after the Mexican Government had granted him diplomatic asylum, considering him a political prisoner.
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