Criminal groups in Ecuador’s Carchi province use drones to watch migrants near the main Colombia-Ecuador crossing. Of 59 people interviewed, 23.7% reported extortion, according to a joint report released by Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office on Monday, October 5, 2026. The report documents a dangerous transit corridor, but it doesn’t identify the groups operating the drones or say whether police have opened cases.
Surveillance and extortion at the crossing
The interviews took place in July 2026 along the Ipiales-Tulcán corridor, with technical support from the UN Human Rights Office. The Rumichaca International Bridge connects Ipiales, in Colombia’s Nariño department, with Tulcán, the capital of Ecuador’s Carchi province. The report calls Rumichaca the countries’ main land crossing and a route toward Central and North America.
Among those interviewed, 42.4% reported discrimination, 32.2% robbery and 13.6% physical attacks, alongside the 23.7% who reported extortion. The report says new criminal groups in Tulcán, El Carmelo and Espejo use drones to monitor migrants and extort them. It doesn’t give figures for the amounts demanded.
At bus terminals, recruiters posing as tour operators sell “safe routes” to third countries for as much as US$300. Travellers who buy these routes face scams, abandonment and exploitation, the report says. Some women and girls have also been pushed into “survival sex” to get food or shelter.
Who controls the routes
The report maps Colombian armed groups and Ecuadorian gangs competing for corridors used to move drugs, contraband, weapons, people and migrants. On the Colombian side, it names the Coordinadora Nacional, known by the Spanish initials CNEB, a bloc of former FARC guerrilla fronts that split from the Segunda Marquetalia. It also lists Comuneros del Sur, which broke away from the central command of the ELN, a leftist guerrilla army.
President Abelardo de la Espriella, a conservative, ended peace talks with both groups in late August and early September. On the Ecuadorian side, the report names Los Choneros and Los Lobos, which Washington designated foreign terrorist organisations 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 link the drone surveillance to any of these named organisations.
Migration patterns and institutional response
Most recorded movements went north: 79.7% travelled from south to north, while 66.1% were entries into Colombia. Most travellers came 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 topped the stated reasons for moving, at 69.5%; family reunification accounted for 16.9%, and violence for 13.6%.
The report says the Ecuador border accounts for 49% of irregular migration recorded by Migración Colombia. In 2025, after Ecuador announced it would deport 1,000 prisoners, 410 people crossed into Colombia at Rumichaca without joint protection protocols.
The report also describes declining local aid. Ipiales had about 25 international aid organisations in 2024 and about five in 2026, the city’s migrant-aid coordination group told the mission. The Pastoral Social shelter, run by the Catholic Church, serves about 70 people a day and struggles to provide food. Children and teenagers made up 40% of those sheltered in the first half of 2026.
Donor money has shifted from social projects toward border-control technology, including biometric systems, and security strategies, the report says. It cites U.S. cooperation announced with Colombia in March 2025 and signed with Ecuador in June 2026. Ecuador’s Frontera Segura 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.
The figures come from 59 interviews. They don’t claim to cover the entire migrant population. 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.”