Spanish
Quito, May 10 (EFE).- The Ecuadorian Army installed a chapel of rest in Quito this Saturday to watch over the 11 soldiers who were participating in an operation against illegal mining, when they were ambushed -according to the Army- by the Comandos de la Frontera, a dissident group of the ex-guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which apparently denies being behind this massacre.
The wake was held at the Eloy Alfaro Military School in the Ecuadorian capital, where the bodies were transferred by air from the Amazon.
After regretting the situation, the Minister of Defense, Gian Carlo Loffredo, announced that the Government will provide housing, education, and health to the families of the victims.
He asserted that Friday's attack was not against 11 members of the Army nor against the Armed Forces, "it was against Ecuador".
In a message released by the Ministry, Loffredo pointed out that the pain caused should remind us "that this war (against organized crime) continues and that only united can we win".
He warned the assassins that "they have an entire Government that is looking for them" and that they will not rest "until they find them and make them pay for their actions".
Armed attack
The confrontation was recorded in the sector called Alto Punino, an area located in the upper basin of the Punino River where illegal gold miners' camps have proliferated in recent years, which are on the provincial border between the Amazonian provinces of Napo and Orellana, separated from Colombia by the province of Sucumbíos.
At several points in this sector, a total of four combat teams made up of 80 soldiers from the 19 Napo Jungle Brigade of the Ecuadorian Army arrived by helicopter.
One of the teams was ambushed with explosives, grenades, and rifles, which left the military dead and one injured, as well as one fatality from the armed group, according to the Army, which specifically identified the Border Commands as the perpetrators.
Henry Delgado, Army General Commander, said that when the military went to destroy the machinery found in the Alto Punino area they were "attacked by the Border Commands, who have alliances with the organized armed groups, called 'Los Lobos'.
Among the deceased are two officers and nine enlisted soldiers, he said, noting that the area has already been reinforced with two additional military units.
They deny authorship of massacre
The Prosecutor's Office opened a preliminary investigation for "terrorism" following the assassination of the military personnel in Ecuador, a country that is observing a three-day national mourning period starting this Saturday, decreed by the president, Daniel Noboa, who also declared the 11 deceased soldiers national heroes and stated that the crime "will not go unpunished".
In a message disseminated by Colombian media, whose authenticity has not been confirmed, the Border Commands assured that they are not responsible for the massacre in Ecuador, a country that is under an 'internal armed conflict', declared in January 2024 by Noboa to combat the violence attributed to criminal gangs.
"The political-military organization Comandos de la Frontera has no responsibility for the regrettable events that have occurred in Ecuadorian territory," reads the message attributed to this armed group.
"Frontera Commands is present in Colombian territory and, just as it does not develop offensive actions against the Colombian military forces, neither does it do so against the military forces of neighboring countries," added the statement, which suggests that the massacre may have been the work of Ecuadorian criminal gangs such as 'Los Choneros', 'Los Lobos' or 'Los Tiguerones'.
