cartels sow chaos, country on the brink of civil war

The situation is out of control: for several days, drug trafficking gangs have been sowing chaos in this small Latin American country, located between Peru and Colombia. There are at least ten dead.

The wave of violence started at the beginning of the week from Guayaquil, the large port city located on the Pacific. Tuesday January 9, in the middle of the street, gangs opened fire on the police and civilians. Shots are heard at the university, fights take place in the subway and there is talk of police officers being kidnapped and murdered.

And then, at 2 p.m., live, a gang invades the set of a television channel, TC, which broadcasts throughout the country.

Hostage taking live on TV

The journalists asked for the police to be called, but were thrown to the ground by very nervous assailants who could not stand still, weapons in hand, faces hidden under hoods and scarves. They brandish grenades and sticks of dynamite in front of the cameras: “with the mafia, we don’t joke“.

The scene lasts half an hour, it is both surreal and terrifying. And then the signal is cut, the police attack, the 13 members of the gang are arrested, there are no victims.

“We will not negotiate with terrorists”

At the origin of this outbreak of violence, the escape of public enemy number 1, José Adolfo Macias, known as “Fito”, leader of the Choneros gang, the oldest and most powerful in the country. When the news spread on Sunday, mutinies increased in prison and the movement spread. Several hundred guards are still taken hostage, Wednesday January 10, in certain penitentiary establishments, threatened on social networks.

We are not yet talking about civil war, but the country is in a state of “internal armed conflict“Overwhelmed by events, but very firm, President Daniel Noboa ordered the neutralization of 22 criminal groups, which he cited one by one.”We will not negotiate with terrorists“, says this young 36-year-old head of state, elected in November on a promise that he intends to keep: to restore security.

Because the country has been plagued by cartel violence for several years. Ecuador, once a haven of peace, one of the safest countries in Latin America, has become in less than ten years the main export point for cocaine produced by its two neighbors, Peru and Colombia – which are the two largest producers in the world.

Street gangs have become untouchable drug traffickers

By ensuring the transport of goods from the Pacific coast to Mexico or the United States, street gangs have become major players in drug trafficking, made untouchable by corruption.

The dollarized economy (in 2000 the country abandoned its national currency, sugar, for the dollar), the lack of port surveillance and the lack of state control over money laundering have allowed the economy drugs flourished and violence exploded.

In 2022, extortion and kidnapping will increase by 300% according to security analyst Carolina Andrade to the Spanish newspaper El País. Homicides have increased, the rate today is 26 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. In August, a presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, was even assassinated with three shots to the head as he left a meeting, 11 days before the election.

The former president, Rafael Correa, who remained in power for 10 years until 2017, calls for “national unity“, while denouncing the public policies carried out over the last seven years, which have led, according to him, to an increase in violence.

Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru expressed their support, saying their rejection of violence. Very concerned, the United States, for its part, proposed its “assistance” to Ecuador.