For years, it's been an open secret that corrupt officers in the Ecuadorian army has been selling weapons to Colombian rebels. But now it's become an open scandal, because a US report verifying that serial numbers on captured weapons proved that the stuff was originally shipped to Ecuador as military aid. But the current president of Ecuador was known to be involved in this trade when he was in the army and has put lots of pressure on Colombia to back off on this issue. President Urbie complied, and as a result his Defense Minister, and several other members of his cabinet have resigned. There were additional reasons for the resignations, but the weapons smuggling from Ecuador was a major factor. Uribe still has an 80 percent approval rating among voters.
