Criminal groups in Ecuador's Carchi province use drones to spy on and extort migrants near the main Colombia-Ecuador border crossing, according to a joint report by the two countries' human rights ombudsmen. Colombia's Ombudsman's Office released the report on Monday, October 5, 2026. Of 59 migrants interviewed in July 2026, 23.7% reported extortion, 42.4% discrimination, 32.2% robbery and 13.6% physical attacks.
With technical support from the UN Human Rights Office, the teams monitored the Ipiales-Tulcán corridor in July. The Rumichaca International Bridge links Ipiales, in Colombia's Nariño department, with Tulcán, the capital of Ecuador's Carchi province. The report identifies it as the countries' main land crossing and a transit corridor toward Central and North America.
Criminal Networks Fill the Vacuum
New criminal groups in Tulcán, El Carmelo and Espejo use drones to monitor migrants and extort them, the report says. It doesn't name the groups. It doesn't say how much they demand or whether police have opened cases. At bus terminals, recruiters posing as tour operators sell migrants "safe routes" to third countries for as much as US$300. The report says this exposes migrants to scams, abandonment and exploitation.
The document describes a crowded field of armed actors competing for corridors used for drugs, contraband, weapons, human trafficking and migrant smuggling. On the Colombian side, it lists the Coordinadora Nacional, known by the Spanish initials CNEB, a bloc of former FARC guerrilla fronts that split from the Segunda Marquetalia, made up of ex-FARC commanders who rearmed after the 2016 peace deal. It also lists Comuneros del Sur, a faction that broke away from the central command of the ELN, a leftist guerrilla army. Conservative President Abelardo de la Espriella ended peace talks with both groups in late August and early September.
On the Ecuadorian side, the report names Los Choneros and Los Lobos, designated foreign terrorist organisations by Washington in a Federal Register notice dated September 5, 2025. It also cites members or collaborators of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang the United States designated a terrorist organisation in February 2025. The report doesn't say that any of the three groups conducted the drone surveillance.
Who Crosses, and Who Preys on Them
Most people interviewed were heading north. Of recorded movements, 79.7% went from south to north, and 66.1% were entries into Colombia. Most were travelling from Chile, Peru and Ecuador; 71.2% planned to continue home to Venezuela. Many, especially Venezuelans, wanted to check on relatives after the June 2026 earthquake. Work or income drove 69.5% of movements; 16.9% cited family reunification, and 13.6% cited violence.
The Ecuador border accounts for 49% of irregular migration recorded by Migración Colombia, the national migration agency. In 2025, after Ecuador announced it would deport 1,000 prisoners, 410 people crossed into Colombia at Rumichaca without joint protection protocols.
Armed civilians were identified as the main alleged attackers, linked to 75% of reported sexual violence cases and 57.9% of robberies. Victims linked members of the security forces to 21.4% of extortion cases and 20% of discrimination cases. Three-quarters of those consulted—75%—filed no complaint. The report says some women and girls faced pressure to provide "survival sex" for food or shelter.
Aid Money Moves, Security Spending Grows
Ipiales had about 25 international aid organisations in 2024, but about five in 2026, the city's migrant-aid coordination group told the mission. The Catholic Church-run Pastoral Social shelter in Ipiales serves about 70 people a day and struggles to provide food. Children and teenagers accounted for 40% of those it sheltered in the first half of 2026.
The report says donors have shifted money from social projects to border-control technology, including biometric systems, and security strategies. It cites U.S. cooperation announced with Colombia in March 2025 and signed with Ecuador in June 2026. Ecuador's Frontera Segura (Safe Border) strategy starts with a pilot in Carchi province. The U.S. State Department's narcotics and law enforcement bureau provides training and equipment, trade site Segurilatam reported. It's unclear whether the pilot targets the groups using drones.
The ombudsmen called for intelligence work against trafficking networks, better protection for women and children, and public funding to replace lost aid. They said authorities can't handle the border "only from a migration-control or security perspective."
A caveat matters here. The figures come from 59 interviews and aren't presented as covering the entire migrant population. Colombia is a longtime U.S. security partner and shares a 586-kilometre border with Ecuador. Rumichaca also serves as the usual overland route for tourists travelling between the two countries. The U.S. State Department rates Colombia at Level 3, "Reconsider Travel," and Ecuador at Level 2, "Exercise Increased Caution"; Ecuador's advisory says "do not travel" to "the area north of Esmeraldas City to the Colombian border and east to Carchi province."
Why This Matters:
The report describes a border where criminal groups, not the state, set the terms for who crosses safely. Three-quarters of those consulted filed no complaint, and some victims pointed to members of the security forces in extortion cases. That's an institutional trust problem no gadget fixes. The U.S.-backed Frontera Segura pilot in Carchi will test whether training, equipment and biometric systems can restore order, though it's unclear whether it targets the drone-using groups. Meanwhile, international aid in Ipiales has fallen from about 25 organisations to about five, leaving a Church-run shelter to cover gaps. Governments facing that mix have a clear task: enforce the law against trafficking networks and let the groups still on the ground do what they can. Both capitals will need to establish whether the 59-person sample reflects the wider picture.