Dissident FARC

Via Colombia Reports: Ecuador says it found a dissident FARC camp in its territory near the Colombian border, a few days after Ecuadorian soldiers were attacked.

The FARC dissidents have tried to maintain control over criminal rackets like drug trafficking that were abandoned by their parent organization during the demobilization.
 The groups are believed to be supported by Mexican and Ecuadorean organized crime groups that buy cocaine from the rogue guerrillas.

This is a familiar story, as its already been told in Peru with the Shining Path. Once an actual ideological guerrilla group, after its military defeat and the capture of Abimael Guzmán, in 2015 the U.S. Treasury Department labeled it a "criminal narco-terrorist organization." Notice that the word "Marxist" isn't in there.

Unfortunately, it is extraordinarily difficult to destroy such groups, the same way its hard to destroy Mexican drug trafficking organizations. They are well-funded, well-armed, and the flow of drug money is never-ending. But an increased state presence in Colombia will help if they can pull it off, and greater Colombia-Ecuador cooperation is possible now that Rafael Correa is no longer president. It is a major border problem and cannot be dealt with by just one side.

For more on Colombia's implementation of the peace deal, check out the podcast I recently recorded with Adam Isacson.