How drug gangs brought bloodshed to Ecuador

How drug gangs brought bloodshed to Ecuador

Ecuador was as ecuadorians like to say an island of peace and now it’s become the exit point for the cocaine from Colombia and Peru to the rest of the world has turned Ecuador one of the most peaceful countries in Latin America into one of the most violent countries on the

Continent people in Ecuador are are terrified the situation in the last few days has been unprecedented after the prison escape the notorious gang leader adolo maras Alias fito who is the leader of Los cheros which is probably one of the most dangerous gangs in Ecuador and there are

Quite a few more than 130 prison guards were taken hostage in prisons videos of reporting to show the killing of of police officers the television channel uh television which was invaded by heavily armed gangsters while it was live on on Air camera operators and journalists being interrupted by men carrying

Shotguns Dynamite grenades and automatic weapons really from 2017 onward there was a really steep rise in violent crime in Ecuador deadly gang violence has again taken hold in Ecuador’s overcrowded prison system the homicide rates According to some studies increased five-fold there there has been a big infiltration of organized crime into public institutions

And now it’s become the transit country for the international cocaine trade the change of government in Ecuador has really being the Catalyst of this latest wave of of chaos Daniel Le who came into office or on the promise of dealing with violent crime being the number one

Concern for Citizens is is trying to say that’s those days are over gang leaders are going to be treated like as the common criminals and highly dangerous criminals that they Are as a result we’re seeing many people on the wrong side of the law feeling threatened by this they have reacted in in the way they know best by trying to sew Terror and uh and and acts of violence I think Ecuador is at a crucial

Moment right now it’s at a it’s on a knife edge this has been said by by politicians this has even been said by Daniel Nur you know Ecuador is a narco State and perhaps not too far off becoming a failed State and I I think that’s reflected by

The figures we’ve seen in terms of migration recently um ecuadorians were the second biggest nationality crossing the Darian gap between Panama and Colombia this very perilous stretch of Jungle which just shows you how many equadorian are deciding to leave the country and and seek a better life elsewhere and I think apart from

Obviously the economic situation there’s economic stagnation there’s very high unemployment that is part of the problem but I think the threat of violent crime and finding themselves very much at the mercy of the gangs and unprotected by the authorities many of them are making that that tough decision to leave their

Families behind in many cases and seek a future Elsewhere

Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, has said his country is ‘at war’ with drug gangs. Armed men stormed a TV station live on air, while prison guards were being held hostage and police officers killed, in a new wave of violence.

The surge of violence promoted the president to issue a decree, designating nearly two dozen gangs as terrorist groups, authorising the military to ‘neutralise’ crime factions. Noboa, who was elected in October, promised to crack down on violent crime and vowed to build new maximum security prisons. This has led to retaliations from drug gangs who have made Ecuador a transit state for cocaine from neighbouring countries. Thousands are fleeing the country as a result.

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