Ecuador - Drugs
Ecuador is suffering its worst security crisis in recent history as rival Mexican cartels fight for control of drug-trafficking routes.
Ecuador's new president declared a 60-day state of emergency 08 January 2024 and warned that the country has entered an "internal armed conflict" due to the drug gang violence. Violence in Ecuador had unleashed a wave of terror among the population. These disputes, however, are an extension of the struggles that transnational criminal groups develop for control of territories within this South American country.
On 09 January 2024 Police quickly stormed a TV studio and took control of the live on air situation. The men broke into studios of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil, shouting that they had "bombs." Noises similar to gunshots could be heard. Ecuador's national police chief, Cesar Zapata, later announced that those behind the attack had been arrested. He said guns and explosives had been seized in what "should be considered a terrorist act." Ecuador's attorney general's office said 13 people were arrested and would be charged with terrorism.
President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency a day after Adolfo Macias, leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang, disappeared from the prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence. His gang, Los Choneros, is thought by authorities to be behind a surge in violence that reached a peak last year with the killing of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The politician had said the group threatened him, but no charges have been brought against it or Macias over the killing. Los Choneros is believed to be linked to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel.
Noboa did not mention Macias' possible escape in imposing the state of emergency, but said in an Instagram message that he won't stop until he "brings back peace to all Ecuadorians." Police say at least seven police officers had been kidnapped in Ecuador following the declaration, and unrest was reported at several prisons.
Ecuador saw a spate of nationwide attacks within hours of Noboa's state of emergency announcement, including one in which gangsters took several police officers hostage. After abducting the officers, criminals released a chilling video in which one was forced to read out a message addressed to the president. "You declared war, you will get war," the terrified officer read. "You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war."
Situated between the world’s two largest cocaine producing countries, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador is a major transit country for illicit drugs. Ecuador is a major transit country for cocaine destined for the United States and other international destinations. Ecuador is considered a key link in the trafficking of cocaine to Europe and the US. Porous land borders and a largely unprotected coastline enable transnational criminal organizations to traffic cocaine from Colombia and Peru for distribution to the United States and Europe. The UN's 2022 World Drug Report lists Ecuador as the country with the third-most cocaine seizures.
Criminal groups traffic cocaine precursor chemicals for drug gangs. Ecuador is a major transit country for chemical precursors or essential chemicals used in the production of illicit narcotics.
Ecuador has seen a sharp rise in violence since the year 2000, due to drug trafficking and turf disputes between organized crime groups.The homicide rate rose to nearly 26 per 100,000 persons in 2022, almost double the prior year and comparable to the homicide rates in Mexico and Colombia. In April 2023, the Guillermo Lasso government declared several Ecuadorian gangs to be terrorist organizations, allowing further military support for law enforcement efforts.
The US government's increasing budget for its "Drug War" has been spent mainly for prison and law enforcement and has had little impact on heavy users or addiction treatment. Furthermore, drug trafficking, associated violence, and money laundering are still dominating the politics and economies of Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, while residents of these countries increasingly consider the basic problem to be the failure of the United States to reduce the demand for drugs.
As of 1992, the specific extent of narcotics activities in Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela was unknown because of the lack of information about these activities. U.S. and host country officials believed coca growth and cocaine production in Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela are occurring but that the levels were not significant compared with those of Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru. However, the officials also believe that drug trafficking, transshipment and diversion of chemicals essential to cocaine production, and money laundering are significant and growing problems.
An Ecuadorian national charged with the attempted murder of a DEA agent has been extradited from Colombia to the United States, the Department of Justice announced 06 April 2007. Jairo Motta-Vargas was named in a two-count indictment previously returned in the District of Columbia on June 20, 2000. Motta-Vargas was charged with the attempted murder of a DEA agent, and with unlawfully impeding, with the use of a deadly weapon, a DEA agent in the performance of his duties. Motta-Vargas was allegedly a member of a Quito, Ecuador-based international drug trafficking organization. In 1999, law enforcement authorities in London, England seized 20 kilograms of heroin belonging to Motta-Vargas’ drug trafficking organization, according to the indictment. On July 12, 1999, in Quito, Motta-Vargas, believing that a DEA Special Agent was responsible for the seizure, fired at least three shots from a Beretta 9mm semi-automatic pistol at point-blank range at the DEA agent while the agent was seated in a motor vehicle. Motta-Vargas was arrested several days later by Ecuadorian police and was ultimately sentenced to six years in prison.
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