Events in Ecuador reflect the interconnectedness of drug cartels in Latin America. Their strategies have evolved, and countries must coordinate to confront the advance of organized crime in the region.
Since a group of 15 armed and hooded men stormed the studio of the TC TV channel in the port city of Guayaquil on January 9, Ecuador has been at “war”. Several countries have expressed solidarity with President Daniel Noboa, who has declared a state of “internal armed conflict” against criminal gangs and drug cartels that he has classified as “terrorists”.
The incidents began with the escape from prison of José Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito”, leader of Los Choneros – one of the most dangerous gangs in the country, along with Los Lobos and Los Tiguerones, for their alleged connections with Mexican narco-cartels such as Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación. According to the research and analysis platform InsightCrime, Los Choneros allegedly emerged as the armed arm of a Colombian cartel.
These international connections show that the problem of drug trafficking is not restricted to a few Latin American countries. In fact, experts say that criminal organizations are extending their tentacles throughout the region.
“Although we can’t speak of a territorial expansion of the big cartels in Latin America, yes, we are seeing a diversification of the points of activity of international drug trafficking and other crimes in the region, a phenomenon that has marked the last 40 years,” comments expert Ivan Briscoe, director of the Latin America Program at the International Crisis Group. During this period, however, we have also seen the dismantling of large criminal organizations, such as the cartels in Colombia and Mexico, among others.”
Latin America’s complex organized crime chain
Certain data is striking. In Chile, for example, there has been an increase in homicides by unidentified perpetrators, from 23% in 2018 to 41% in 2022, according to the 2023 report by the National Center for the Prevention of Homicide and Violent Crimes. According to the investigative journalism portal Ciper, analysts interpret this as an indicator of the growing impunity of organized crime.
In Brazil, the First Capital Command (PCC), the country’s main criminal group, operates alongside Mexican cartels and the Albanian mafia and the Italian ‘Ndrangheta, reports InsightCrime.
Also in the suburbs of the Argentine city of Rosario, violence related to cocaine micro-trafficking has been on the rise for almost a decade. At a global level, the Global Organized Crime Index points out that gangs with territorial control grew by 23% between 2021 and 2023.
Sebastián Hurtado, president of Quito-based political risk consultancy Prófitas, warns that the organizations are extending their tentacles into Latin America. “Its position between the two largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, and its access to the Pacific Ocean, make Ecuador an especially favorable location. However, as the producers and gangs find other areas through which to transit their operations, they will expand to other countries in the region.”
On the other hand, “there are no longer, as before, large ‘capos’ or transnational organizations that control the multiple rings of the drug trafficking chain,” Briscoe points out. “Today there is an ecosystem of criminal actors and groups that join together for different activities, which gives them the possibility of entering new markets in Latin America.”
Rosario, for example, is an urban port center whose cargo “is used by drug trafficking groups that influence the gangs already established in the areas, which are generally poor.” This is how South America sees “drug trafficking flows not only towards the Pacific, but also towards the Atlantic”. And globalization and the speed of social networks favor criminal activities, emphasizes the International Crisis Group expert.
Porous borders and “black holes”
Hurtado points out that half of the 586-kilometer border between Ecuador and Colombia is jungle and “continues to be very porous”, despite the efforts of both countries to improve controls.
But this is not the only “black hole” that favors drug trafficking. Briscoe mentions the tripartite zone of the Amazon between Brazil, Colombia and Peru, “which has high levels of poverty and corrupt authorities”; as well as the triple border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, “where there has been a notable increase in violence, due to the influence of drug trafficking groups”.
However, the Colombian and Mexican cartels operate differently from ten or 20 years ago, Briscoe points out: “It’s no longer a question of penetrating other territories to control the drug trafficking chain. It’s known that the big cartels now rent out land and routes under their control to organizations operating at an international level, thus guaranteeing their logistics and security – a franchise model that is often seen. Mexican cartels act as intermediaries with a lot of cash and economic power, and they are undoubtedly looking for the best allies for their business in other countries.”
Dollarization and money laundering
On the subject of the economic power of organized crime, another current question is whether dollarization – introduced in Ecuador in 2000 with the aim of stabilizing the economy – doesn’t play a role in the rise of organized crime. For Hurtado, who specializes in public administration, “without a doubt, dollarization and institutional weakness make Ecuador fertile ground for asset laundering, especially drug trafficking,” because “it is more difficult to identify large suspicious transactions than in a non-dollarized economy.”
Briscoe agrees: “In Colombia, there is a lot of circulation of dollars in cash, laundering drug money. Ecuador has become a magnet for this money, which comes in much more easily because it is legal tender.” This benefits companies with illicit businesses, which “launder” their capital there. “That’s why Guayaquil and other areas of the Pacific coast have become major money laundering centers over the last 20 years.”
How can we tackle the advance of organized crime in the region? “In recent days Ecuador has received expressions of support from its neighboring countries,” notes Hurtado. “I would hope that there will be more coordinated work, with better joint strategies between Latin American governments, which are concerned about what is happening in Ecuador and the possibility that many of these activities will spread to other countries.”
*** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***