Why does violence break out in Ecuador? The keys to the fearsome advance of drug trafficking in the country

The attack by a group of hooded men on an Ecuadorian television channel while it was broadcasting the mid-afternoon news live broke into the lives of Ecuadorians on Tuesday with an unprecedented attack which highlighted a new leap in the criminal spiral of the country, which has been immersed in violence, insecurity and a record of murder Year after year.

The day had already begun with a sequence of 30 violent acts in various parts of the country, with kidnapped police officers, prison riots, vehicle explosions and preceded by the alleged escape from prison of the leaders of criminal groups. And it ended with at least 10 deaths, including two police officers, and a country in panic in the face of unprecedented violence.

But Never before had the assault of several people who targeted and subdued the presenters and workers of the channel’s central studio been seen live in front of thousands of viewers with two long weapons, two short weapons, a machine gun and explosives industrial and military. This was then confirmed by the police commander of Guayaquil, the city where the means of communication is located.

The incident was neutralized by the police with 13 arrested. It has not been officially confirmed that there were any injuries.

The day before, the Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboa, had decreed his first state of emergency and night curfew. It was his response to the alleged escape from prison of Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito”, the leader of a local criminal gang to whom authorities attribute links to the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, who was serving a 36-year prison sentence for murder . drug trafficking and other crimes.

Here are some keys to understanding how Ecuador found itself in this situation.

When did Ecuador become such a violent country?

The violence began to have a public impact in February 2021 with a massacre inside the most violent prison in the country, the so-called Penitenciaría del Litoral, in Guayaquil, considered the most dangerous city in the territory.

The bloody clash in that prison resulted in the murder of at least 79 inmates and was the first of the sequel violent clashes between inmates of rival gangs.

According to the authorities, the disputes within the prisons originated with the death, in December 2020, of a drug trafficking boss of the Los Choneros gang, Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias “Rasquiña”, linked to international drug trafficking. Thus internal division grew between local groups trying to seize their power.

In September of the same year, the worst prison massacre occurred in which 119 inmates were murdered in various penitentiary centers, some of whom were beheaded. In total, over the past three years, around 18 violent clashes within prisons have resulted in the deaths of more than 450 prisoners.

Violence in prisons, which according to the authorities have become organized crime control centres, It spread to the streets and other crimes against citizens spilled over into Ecuador, such as kidnappings, murders, robberies, extortion and more, leading the country to be one of the most violent in the region.

The year 2023 ended as the most violent in the history of Ecuadorwith more than 7,600 murders, well above the 4,600 with which 2022 ended, which in turn doubled the 2,100 murders of 2021.

What is the government doing in the face of this escalation?

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who took office a month and a half ago after winning the October elections at the end of a bloody campaign, promised to eradicate violence with his Fénix plan, a security strategy of which there is no news the details. and which, so far, has not stopped the acts of violence in the country.

Following the disappearance of alias Fito from prison, he decreed a state of emergency and a night curfew mobilize the police and military on the streets. This provision limits rights such as free mobility, assembly, inviolability of the home or correspondence.

With the attack on the TC Televisión channel, Noboa took a further step forward and, without having explained the true scope of the new decision, on Tuesday declared Ecuador in “internal armed conflict” and identified the organized crime groups as “terrorists” and otherwise. -belligerent state actors”.

Among the criminal organizations mentioned in the decree are Los Choneros and Los Lobos, to which belong the two ringleaders who allegedly escaped from prison between Sunday and Tuesday, as well as the Tiguerones, the Lagartos or the Killer Águilas, cited repeatedly in episodes of previous violence in village.

The latest decree also ordered the armed forces carry out military operations “to neutralize identified groups”, in compliance with international humanitarian law.

Why has the power of drug trafficking grown so much in the country?

The Ecuadorian authorities of the current government and the two previous ones – Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023) and Lenín Moreno (2017-2021) – have argued that the violence initially started in prisons due to disputes between criminal gangs for the control of those centers, as well as national and international drug distribution routes.

Also for the control of territories for drug dealing at a local level.

From there he took to the streets until he reached the citizens and their businesses. Even the governments that preceded Noboa’s, especially that of Lasso, have decreed various states of exception and curfews, sometimes in specific localities or across the entire national territory, sometimes in the prison system, without the violent acts having so far ceased .

This was assured by the former Defense Minister, Luis Hernández The associated press that the attack on the TV channel reveals that organized crime “perceived the weakness of the state,” which is why it believed it could easily take actions to “frighten” the country “and put it in a situation of panic.”

Hernández supported the president’s declaration of “internal armed conflict,” which allows him to “use lethal force.” And he added that a clear message must be sent to the population so that they do not allow themselves to be subjected to “fear and chaos”.

What organized crime wants, the former minister observed, is for the state to surrender “and that is what should not be allowed”.

Source: AP