Ecuador’s trade of bananas with Europe has created the perfect transport loophole for cocaine cartels and is bringing the country to its knees
We recommend you read this great Guardian analysis
Armed gangs and prison breaks: how Ecuador was plunged into chaos and bloodshed
President declares state of ‘internal armed conflict’ as gang leader escapes from jail and gunmen invade TV studio
Few Ecuadoreans were prepared for just how swiftly and steeply the security situation in their country could plummet. Murder and violence linked to drug trafficking has soared, as the country has become one of the most dangerous in Latin America.
Until just a few years ago, Ecuador was a corner of relative peace sandwiched between the world’s two biggest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, which have recently seen their own violent internal conflicts between security forces and nominally leftist rebels linked to the lucrative drugs trade.
Facing its own surge in violence, Ecuador’s young president, Daniel Noboa, has declared a state of “internal armed conflict”, designating 20 drug trafficking gangs as terrorist groups and authorising Ecuador’s military to “neutralise” the crime factions “within the bounds of international humanitarian law”.
Read on at
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/10/ecuador-tv-studio-gang-attack-prison-break
