Ecuador: Five dead in attack attributed to organized crime

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The blast, whose exact circumstances have not yet been determined by law enforcement, also destroyed eight houses and two cars, according to rescue services.

Five people were killed and 16 injured today in an attack in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second-largest city and main port, which the government blamed on organized crime, authorities and rescue services said.

“Mercenaries of organized crime are attacking us today with explosives. This is a declaration of war against the state,” Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo tweeted.

The blast, whose exact circumstances have not yet been determined by law enforcement, also destroyed eight houses and two cars, according to rescue services.

“Either we are able to unite to deal with (organized crime), or the price we pay will be even higher for society,” Carillo warned.

A once-peaceful neighbor of Colombia and Peru, the world’s two biggest cocaine producers, Ecuador is now a hub for shipping the white powder to Europe and the United States and the site of territorial disputes between several gangs, according to authorities and analysts.

Mexican cartels, who want to manage the entire commercial activity from production to shipping, have found in Ecuador a dollarized economy in which to launder their illicit proceeds and authorities ill-prepared to deal with the gangs, authorities that are quickly overwhelmed by the economy of corruption.

The country, which for years was little more than a transit point, has become “a safe haven for organized crime,” Mario Pazminho, a former intelligence chief, told AFP recently.

According to a recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ecuador, with a population of 18 million, is the third country in the world where the largest seizures of cocaine were made in 2020, after Colombia and the USA, i.e. 6.5% of the 1,424 tonnes seized worldwide.

Between 2021 and today, more than 300 tons of cocaine were seized, Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said. However, seizures, which in 2021 reached an annual record of 210 tonnes, represent less than 30% of what actually goes through ports and airports.

This lucrative trade leads to a lot of unbridled lust and violent clearing of accounts that the authorities find difficult to control.

The homicide rate increased from 6 to 14 per 100,000 inhabitants from 2018 to today, according to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior.

Conflicts between gangs have spread to prisons and have resulted in the deaths of more than 350 inmates since February 2021.

RES-EMP

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