Overview
- Ecuador raised the fee for transporting Colombian crude via the SOTE pipeline from $3 to $30 per barrel under a Jan. 23 resolution, a move Colombia condemned as a unilateral aggression that violates prior commitments.
- Quito plans a 30% “security” tariff on Colombian imports starting Feb. 1, and Bogotá has answered with reciprocal levies on dozens of Ecuadorian products and a suspension of electricity exports.
- Colombia’s foreign ministry says it proposed meeting dates for talks but has not received a response from Ecuador, leaving the retaliatory measures unresolved.
- A U.S. deputy secretary, Joseph M. Humire, met officials in Quito as the two countries announced a formal political and security dialogue and pledged deeper cooperation against transnational crime and at the border.
- President Daniel Noboa unveiled $230 million for military equipment and technology to bolster frontier control, citing a lack of reciprocity from Colombia and Ecuador’s surge in narco-related violence.