Very Dangerous Infiltration: Is Ecuador On The Way To Be A Narco-State?

The ambassador of U.S in Ecuador has been blunt: Washington discovered that there is a group of high command of the military forces linked to drug trafficking and has taken away their visas. He called them “narcogenerales.”

“We are very concerned about the penetration of drug trafficking in Ecuador and in the forces of order“, He has told Michael Fitzpatrick to the Ecuadorian portal Primicias.

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Fitzpatrick also maintained that he could not give the names, but that they joined other inquiries that account for the “penetration“Of the narcos in”law enforcement and justice systems”.

“But we are already investigating [estos casos] and others such as Petroecuador, public procurement in the health sector, this includes judges, lawyers, public or private officials”.

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Response from Guillermo Lasso Do not be late.

This Tuesday the 14th, very early, the President of Ecuador stated that he did not believe Fitzpatrick was referring to “Active generals“But to those who”They left their duties precisely because they did not go through the due diligence that is carried out in order to evaluate their behavior”.

After asking to reveal the names of the people sanctioned by Washington, Lasso He said that “On none of the active generals there are shadows of suspicion”.

It is not, however, the first time that Fitzpatrick speaks of sanctions against Ecuadorians investigated by corruption. Last year, for example, he said 300 citizens had their visas revoked.

And the problem does not end there.

As the last few months became evident, the drug trafficking can put the government in check and the most real proof of this is the increase in unsafety and the riots in prisons (and the massacres that occurred in the Guayaquil prison, Litoral, which give a good account of the presence of Mexican and Colombian cartels).

In November, Lasso declared: “Ecuador is under a serious external threat due to the attack by drug trafficking mafias, the same ones that seek to take control of the country’s detention centers and take away our freedom in the streets and cities.”.

The point is that, if the calls to calm the situation are the Armed forces and they are involved with the drug traffickers, Who will be able to defend the neighboring nation to the north?

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FEW DOUBTS, MORE CERTAINTIES

“There may be doubts about whether there is complicity between the authorities and drug trafficking. However, the suspicion is founded due to the credibility of the investigations of the United States embassy in the country.”.

This is the opinion of the Ecuadorian Mauricio Alarcón, Executive Director of the Citizenship and Development Foundation. How do you explain that the embassy itself has not published the names of those involved?

“First, it must be said that launching data into the air without due support generates a commotion, even among citizens. There is a critical situation in Ecuador regarding insecurity”.

The BBC recalls that, as indicated by the Ministry of Government, in Guayaquil there were “329 intentional homicides in all of 2020, and until September 2021, 591″.

“I think it was a strategic decision to enable a communication channel with the national government so that immediate and positive action can be taken at the justice level.”.

The way in which the Lasso government reacted to the accusations leaves a lot to think about, Alarcón argues.

“I think that there is some truth in the accusations, that is, that the level of penetration of drug trafficking and irregular structures is so great that it has permeated the public forces”.

“However, the government’s response has not been optimal. What it can generate is that the list is made public and, as a consequence, that the problem becomes bigger and more devastating”.

If Lasso chooses to turn his face, says the specialist, it is because he has other priorities. As the credibility and trust of the population in him wane, this matter takes him by surprise, so he will give priority to the economy and its tax reform.

Rafael Correa, a controversial former Ecuadorian president who ruled between 2007 and 2017. AFP (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD /)

THE ORIGIN OF THE PROBLEM

This issue, Alarcón says, is not new. “At the political level, it has been talked about since the 2019 elections, when reference was made to the presence of irregular money in the campaigns”.

“This announcement would be the cherry on the cake, a way of making it clear that the situation in the country is critical and that actions must be taken to prevent the penetration of drug trafficking into state structures from being magnified.”.

Would it be an exaggeration to think that we are witnessing the first steps of a narco-state? “Not at all”Answers Alarcón.

“If you look at what is happening in Central America, if you see the way in which all its problems began, then you have to worry”.

“It is not difficult to realize that Ecuador is the perfect breeding ground, that here there are situations similar to those that allowed the decline in that region”.

Of course, it would be a mistake to think that drug trafficking only gained power with the arrival of Lasso. Alarcón notes that it is a subject that should be studied, but that it would very likely not be necessary to go back many decades to come across the genesis.

“It would be necessary to evaluate if this did not begin in the time of Rafael Correa. There were reports of irregular financing of his campaign, of groups linked to drug trafficking”.

“The permeability and permissiveness of that time has given rise to consolidation, and everything seems to indicate that drug trafficking has already reached the people who should be doing something for the security of the country”.

The Ecuadorian political scientist Sebastián Mantilla agrees with the dates. For him, it is Correa who leaves the way for drug trafficking to gain power.

“During his government, instead of fighting it, he did everything to favor it and facilitate its growth. For example, operations to control the shipment of drugs were defunded at the borders and main ports.”.

THE MAGNITUDE OF THE CASE

And, of course, the words of the ambassador of U.S all they do is show a latent problem.

“What we are seeing here are the steps leading up to becoming a narco-state”.

“Now we are talking about high officials, but before there were members of lower ranks of the Armed Forces. or the police linked to drug trafficking. These influences also extend to the attorney general’s office, judges, political parties and certain politicians, lawyers, businessmen”.

And is the ruling Lasso responding according to need?

Mantilla notes that, although the ambassador has referred in good terms to the actions of the government, he considers that the president “does not know or does not have a team capable of assuming the situation in its real dimension”.

“Ecuador’s problem does not go through gangs that fight for space, but drug trafficking spreads through institutions and public and private spaces”.

“Faced with this, what President Lasso has been doing is, to a certain extent, inconsistent. It seems that he has not realized the seriousness of the issue and that is why his actions in the last six months have been erratic”.

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