Andean Region in March 2026: the most important developments in security
In the Andean Region in March 2026, the most prominent event was the crash of a Colombian military cargo plane on 23 March. The C-130 went down after takeoff near the border with Peru and Ecuador, in southern Colombia, with between 90 and 125 people on board, most of them soldiers. Reports put the number of dead between 66 and 80, with dozens more injured. On 24 March the head of the armed forces confirmed at least 66 deaths, and search operations for the missing continued.
The second major development was a joint military campaign by the United States and Ecuador against organized crime. It began on 4 March, with U.S. forces taking part in the operation, which the Trump administration described as targeting terrorist organizations. Strikes followed on 7 March, including the bombing of a camp of FARC dissidents with U.S. support, and on 11 March Ecuador was reported to be preparing a larger offensive against criminal groups. On 24 March the U.S. military acknowledged that it had helped bomb a location in Ecuador that was later identified as a dairy farm, not a drug camp.
On 17 March Colombia accused Ecuador of bombing along their shared border after finding 27 bodies. The following day, a suspect in the murder of an Ecuadorian presidential candidate was arrested in Mexico. Ecuador's oil industry also faced violent disruptions.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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