Ecuador is by no means the first country in Latin America to try to tackle the cartels and gangs that have integrated into the societies of many countries across the region.
but EcuadorMexico, more than others, faces a real challenge due to the involvement of two of Mexico's most notorious and powerful drug cartels – Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation.
The authorities in Ecuador tell us that Sinaloa poster It has broadly allied itself with the Los Choneros gang, while the Jalisco New Generation has joined Los Tiguerones.
Ecuador's 36-year-old president, Daniel Noboa, ordered a crackdown on the two gangs after Adolfo “Vito” Macias, the leader of Los Choneros, escaped from prison ahead of his planned move to a maximum security prison.
The crackdown sparked a gang backlash, with murders, car bombings and rebellions breaking out across the country in January.
Soldier on patrol in Esmeraldas, Ecuador
The battle was particularly focused on coastal cities and towns on the Pacific coast, such as Guayaquil and Esmeraldas, which are key areas of influence for the gangs.
President Noboa reclassified gang crimes and membership as terrorism, immediately allowing security forces to exercise tougher powers to detect, confront, and imprison gang members.
The country's security forces launch one raid after another, to arrest people they believe are linked to gangs.
Prisons are filling up
The country's prisons were filled with new prisoners, and the military took over some prisons, notorious for their lack of discipline and control, completely changing the internal dynamic and the freedom of gang leaders to continue their business activities while they were closed. higher.
The president of El Salvador, another country plagued by drug crime gangs, has overseen a massive crackdown on criminal activity, and currently, nearly 2% of the country's total population is behind bars.
Prisoners in prison
The net effect has led to lower homicide rates and overall crime rates, according to the latest government figures.
“The most wonderful dictator in the world,” is how President Nayib Bukele described himself. His popularity in El Salvador has skyrocketed.
Ecuador's president appears to be following a very similar plan, but he is keen to distance himself from the dictatorship label.
Phoenix plan
Soldiers in a pickup truck patrolling Guayaquil
The Phoenix Plan to eradicate gangs in Ecuador has a budget of $800 million for law enforcement – $200 million of which comes from the US government.
The United States has a vested interest in reducing gang activities in Latin America.
First, restricting the flow of illicit drugs into the country, and second, and perhaps more importantly, stopping the flow of migrants northward from South and Central America illegally into the United States.
The sheer number of migrants trying to cross the border from Mexico often tells us that they are trying to make the journey to escape gangs who make life in a range of countries absolutely miserable.
For two weeks, Sky News joined raid after raid, day and night, on land and sea, against gangs in Ecuador. We also entered a prison that was full and under military guard.
So far, so good.
Mexican gangs are on the move
But, and it's a big but, Mexican gangs are in the city This is a big problem. I've spent a lot of time with gangs and cartels in Mexico and throughout South and Central America, some of which, as in Brazil, are wealthy, well-organized, ruthless, and, most importantly, well-armed.
An Ecuadorian Marine armed with a Coast Guard support pistol
When Brazilian police and military pursue gangs, they conduct raids using helicopter gunships and armored vehicles. While the authorities have claimed major successes in recent years, my recent visit showed me that gangs still act with impunity – something that continues.
In El Salvador, the gangs were large but poorly organized, and in neighboring Honduras the picture was much the same.
However, in Mexico it is completely different. Cartels form an essential part of the fabric of society, and the resources are, for all intents and purposes, limitless.
Their brutality is legendary, and their ability to buy off police, judges, entire corporations, and even government cannot be underestimated.
Soldiers prepare to participate in the raid
Successive Mexican governments have long abandoned police in their efforts to suppress cartel activity and relied entirely on the country's marines to enforce the law.
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The point is that the government of Mexico is not winning, and if I'm being honest, I don't think it ever will, as is currently the case with drug use around the world.
Now we return to the Ecuador problem again. The Sinaloa cartels and the new generation realized that Ecuador – not a cocaine-producing country – had excellent ports with highways north by sea to Central and North America.
The country has a huge banana production business that is exported by sea, and is a major oil refining country, which exports by sea. These ships are ideal for hiding and exporting drugs, especially cocaine as well.
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Cartel crackdown in Ecuador
None of the cartels will appreciate the disruption President Noboa has brought to their business, and I suspect they will just walk away.
They are so accustomed to getting what they want, so accustomed to problems disappearing – or simply killing the opponent, that they might do the same in Ecuador.
For the president and his government to succeed, they have to keep gang members under control and in prison, they have to prevent the gangs from sending their activists into the country to restart businesses, they have to make sure that state institutions are not corrupt and bought off, and finally, the president needs to survive. .
