Behind the Turmoil in Ecuador | Compact Mag

A little more than a month into the presidency of Daniel Noboa, Ecuador has descended into chaos. The triggering event was the daring escape from prison of José Adolfo Macías Villamar, head of the Choneros, the country s most notorious drug-trafficking gang. In response, the newly elected president declared a nationwide manhunt and a 60-day state of emergency. By the following day, firefights and prison riots had erupted around the country, with armed men kidnapping, live on air, the anchors of one of the most important television stations.

A peaceful country not long ago, Ecuador has taken a turn for the worse in recent years, with homicides surging to 26 per 100,000 last year, up from around 7 per 100,000 in 2020. Since the end of the pandemic, the country has fallen victim to a broader restructuring in the international drug trade. The collapse in the price of coca the raw crop used to make cocaine in neighboring Colombia has seemingly made exporting cocaine out of Ecuador more attractive. At the same time, the growing popularity in the United States of synthetic drugs like fentanyl has stoked competition among traffickers for routes to more lucrative cocaine markets across the Pacific.

via compactmag.com

Juan David Rojas.