Crumbling State & Cocaine Superhighway: What's Stoking Ecuador's Explosion of Gang Violence?

The escape of a highly notorious gang leader from prison has plunged Ecuador into turmoil. In response to the ensuing chaos, President Daniel Noboa has declared a state of emergency that encompasses the entire country. Now, the question that arises is: what is the underlying cause behind this havoc?

The nation has recently seen shooting, arson, looting and uprisings in several prisons after a major gang leader Adolfo Macias - also known as Fito - was reported missing from his cell on January 7. It turned out on January 9 that Fabricio Colón Pico, the leader of Ecuador's second-largest criminal gang, Los Lobos, also escaped from prison as a result of riots.

President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency and imposed a nationwide curfew, ordering the police to catch the notorious gang leaders.

Who are Ecuadorian Gang Leaders?

Macias is the leader of the Los Choneros gang, who was serving a 34-year prison sentence for drug trafficking, murder and organized crime. He was due to be sent to a maximum security correctional facility on Sunday from the La Regional detention center in the port city of Guayaquil.

Los Choneros is believed to hold sway over the South American country’s penitentiaries, as many of its members are imprisoned. Still, the criminal group has much influence beyond prison walls, allegedly being an arm of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, often described as one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the Western Hemisphere.

Pico, alias The Savage, is the leader of Los Lobos, the 8,000-strong Ecuadorian gang notorious for organizing some of the nation's most violent prison riots. Like Los Choneros, Los Lobos is believed to have connections to Mexico's organized crime gangs, most notably the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

What's Occurring in Ecuador?

By January 9, violent clashes had left at least eight people dead in Guayaquil. Earlier, during a live news broadcast by TC Television in the city, several masked men barged into the studio, claiming that they had "bombs". One of the attackers said that he wanted to send a message about impending problems awaiting the government if it would "mess with the mafias," The New York Times reported. However, the message had not been delivered as police stormed the building and arrested 13 people, confiscating their weapons.

Police announced that four officers were kidnapped on Monday - one in Quito and three in Quevedo – and remain missing. The nation's authorities also confirmed a series of attacks across Ecuador, including explosions and arson. In the Ecuadorian capital of Quito, a blast was reported near the house of the president of the National Justice Court.

Even though the country's president declared a state of emergency and ordered the police to crack down on Ecuador's gangs, the situation is far from being under control.

What's Fuelling Gang Power?

According to the NYT, gang warfare had started rocking Ecuador over the past few years as foreign gang traffickers united with syndicates like Los Choneros to create a powerful drug trafficking industry. Reportedly, gangs managed to infiltrate the government and exert pressure on Ecuadorian businesses.

Ecuador has recently become "a cocaine superhighway" due to large-scale trafficking in the illicit drug through the nation's Pacific ports and domestic market, according to the Global Organized Crime Index report. Drug trafficking is mostly controlled by Mexican, Colombian and Albanian gangs who team up with local organized crime groups. In addition, Peruvian opium is transported into Ecuador, making the country both a destination and source of heroin. Ecuador has also gained infamy for human trafficking and weapons smuggling.

Fernando Alcibiades Villavicencio, an Ecuadorian journalist, trade unionist, and politician who ran for president of Ecuador in the 2023 and was assassinated in August, had reportedly received threats from Los Choneros. On the campaign trail, Villavicencio vowed to expose links between organized crime and government officials.

Six Colombian hitmen behind Villavicencio's assassination were arrested but soon ended up dead in an Ecuadorian prison, according to the country's authorities. Their bodies were found in cellblock 7 of the Litoral penitentiary in Guayaquil on October 6 despite being initially assigned to cellblock 9. The victims did "not present signs of torture or wounds resulting from a struggle," according to The National Service of Integral Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI). El Pais reports that over 400 prisoners have been killed in Ecuador’s prison system since 2020 mainly due to clashes between rival gang groups.

Why is Ecuador Plagued by Crime and Chaos?

The current wave of violence engulfing Ecuador is a direct result of the deliberate erosion of the rule of law, derived from policies implemented by the last three governments, Jorge Paladines, an academic at the Central University of Ecuador and instructor in law and political science, told Sputnik Mundo.

"From the government of Lenin Moreno, continuing with the government of the banker Guillermo Lasso and the government of the young businessman Daniel Noboa, these three governments maintain a common trend that has to do with the shrinking role of the state in social matters," said Paladines.

The state's diminished role has opened the floodgates to criminal groups, who have filled the gaps left by the government, according to him.

The academic argues that the recent sharp surges in homicides over the last three years is a result of several factors, with impoverishment and a decline in living standards among the most prominent. Paladines believes that declaring a state of emergency, as proposed by Noboa, is an ineffective approach that will neither address the issue of violence nor resolve the crisis within the penal system.

"During a state of emergency, as has been confirmed more than once, car bombings or murders occur. This does not lead to a decrease in the crime rates," the scholar noted, stressing that under Guillermo Lasso, the former head of state, similar decisions proved unsuccessful.