Medellín, Colombia – Ecuador’s Foreign Minister announced on Wednesday morning that Ecuador’s ambassador to Colombia, Arturo Felix Wong, has been recalled.

The move follows comments made by Colombian President Gustavo Petro regarding Ecuador’s jailed former Vice President, Jorge Glas, who he called a “political prisoner” and said was not being given sufficient food. 

The spat is the latest in a series of diplomatic rows between the two neighbors this year, which have included tit-for-tat tariffs and accusations about border security.

Gabriela Sommerfield, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister, justified the withdrawal of the Ecuadorean ambassador from Colombia as “a protest towards Colombia over the terms used by Petro and the interference in decisions made by different branches of the Ecuadorean State” in an interview with Centro Digital Radio.

The announcement followed several inflammatory statements about Glas by Petro in recent days. On Monday, the President said, “it is undeniable that Jorge Glas is a political prisoner.” 

Glas has faced several convictions for corruption-related charges but his supporters, including Petro, accuse Ecuador’s right-wing government of persecuting him for being associated with the progressive Citizen Revolution Movement. 

“Letting someone die of hunger, while under the care of the government, is a crime against humanity,” said Petro on Tuesday. 

Glas is currently serving an eight-year sentence for bribery and criminal association, and a thirteen-year sentence for embezzlement in the maximum-security El Encuentro prison, which is modelled on Salvadorean president Nayib Bukele’s infamous prison system.

He was first convicted in 2017 for his involvement in the Odebrecht case, one of the largest corruption cases in recent Latin American history, after it was revealed that he had received millions of dollars in bribes from the Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht.

He has since received further sentences and was released temporarily in 2022 but re-imprisoned shortly after. Later that year, he was released again, and sought asylum in the Mexican embassy, claiming political persecution. But two years ago, he was arrested in a controversial police raid of the Mexican embassy in Quito, leading to the severing of diplomatic ties between the two countries. 

Now, Ecuador also faces chilly relations with neighboring Colombia; on February 1st, Quito imposed a tariff of 30% on Bogotá, which it increased to 50% in March. President Daniel Noboa said that the levy was a response to Colombia failing to cooperate in the fight against narcotrafficking.

Colombia responded with tariffs of 30% on 73 types of products coming from Ecuador, including rice and sugar, which later increased to 50% for more than 185 products.

A further dispute emerged last month when Petro accused Ecuador of bombing across the two countries’ joint border.

After recalling Ecuador’s Ambassador to Colombia on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sommerfield announced that meetings to address the ongoing trade war between the two countries would be suspended.

Featured image description: President Gustavo Petro at a cabinet meeting, October 22, 2025.

Featured image credit: @InfoPresidencia via X.

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Medellín, Colombia – President Gustavo Petro has accused Ecuador of dropping bombs on Colombian territory, adding that 27 “charred bodies” were discovered near their shared border.

“We’re going to thoroughly investigate the circumstances—it happened very close to the border with Ecuador—which somewhat confirms my suspicion, but we need to investigate thoroughly: they’re bombing us from Ecuador, and it’s not the armed groups,” said Petro in a cabinet meeting on Monday evening. 

The accusation marks an escalation in recent tensions between the two neighbors, with president Daniel Noboa swiftly denouncing the claims as false, insisting that his country’s anti-drug operations only hit targets within Ecuador. 

In response to Petro’s claims, Noboa said on Tuesday that “with international cooperation, we continue the fight by bombing the hideouts used by these groups, who are mainly Colombians whom their own government allowed to infiltrate our country due to lax border controls.”

But Petro doubled down on his accusations, claiming that “there are 27 charred bodies and the explanation is not credible” the president said via X this Tuesday. 

Pedro Sánchez, Colombian Minister of Defense, announced that Colombian forces have been deployed to the border to investigate the matter and carry out a controlled destruction of an alleged Ecuadoran bomb. 

Earlier this month, the United States and Ecuador announced a joint military campaign to target criminal groups active in the South American country. Last Sunday, Ecuador began a 15-day joint operation with the U.S., deploying thousands of military and police officers throughout the provinces worst-affected by crime and declaring a nighttime curfew.

Noboa has repeatedly accused Bogotá of failing to address transnational organized crime and police its side of the border.

In February, Ecuador slapped 30% tariffs on Colombia which it labeled a “security fee”. Since then, the tit-for-tat dispute has seen mutual import levies reach 50%, drawing criticism from business owners and workers on both sides of the border. 

Despite this, at the start of this month the neighbors joined forces to combat crime on their 600km border. Noboa, an ally of president Trump, also agreed to collaborate with U.S. forces in military operations against organized crime groups in March. 

Noboa was also one of the 17 leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean invited to join Trump’s ‘Shield of the Americas’ last week. The alliance, from which Colombia was excluded, promises to use full military force against drug traffickers. Last week, the FBI also opened its first office in Ecuador. 

Featured image credit: Colombian President’s Office.

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