Violence, organized crime and crimes associated with these scourges are the main risks that you face today Latin America. Several organizations that study the region came to this conclusion, separately, and they also warned that these dangers will continue to spread throughout 2024, as demonstrated by the week of terror that occurred Ecuador.
The fourth edition of the index Risk Politics Latin America, directed by the Center for International Studies of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (Ceiuc), for example, revealed this Wednesday that organized crime and drug trafficking are the biggest challenges facing Latin America for this year that is just beginning. For its part, the American NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) also said a few days ago in its annual report that the growth of insecurity is at the top of the agenda of regional concerns.
In terms of security alerts, what happened this week in Ecuador puts the level at five out of five in the region, especially at the borders.
These concerns are supported by a devastating statistic issued by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in December 2023: Organized crime is responsible for 50 percent of the homicides that occur on our continent, while Latin America and the Caribbean It is the region with the highest regional homicide rate in the world.
For all this, the Ecuadorian case raises all the alarms of a reality that reflects how crime and the mafia have taken root in the region. In the words of Juan Pablo Spinetto, Latin American Economy and Government editor for Bloomberg, “Ecuador went from being one of the safest in the region to becoming a combat zone, with drug trafficking gangs that challenge the authority of the State. ”.
According to Renato Rivera, coordinator of the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory (Oeco), Ecuador has become in recent years a “logistical collection center” for cocaine trafficking in Latin America. And its ports are now a strategic piece of the criminal puzzle of the drug cartels that transport drug shipments across the Pacific to the United States and Europe.
“In terms of security alerts, what happened this week in Ecuador puts the level at five out of five in the region, especially on borders (with Colombia and Peru). One due to the possibility of escape of the heads of these organizations. And two, for illegal arms trafficking,” Rivera said.
(Also: The harsh crisis that Ecuador is experiencing, a country in a state of war due to drug traffickers)
In fact, Ecuadorian gangs have raised their criminal power to such a point that they have already expanded their tentacles to other countries, according to Rivera. For this reason, experts warn that what is happening in Ecuador should be a lesson for Latin American governments to design a joint response to address the challenges that the region faces today.
“We must keep in mind that Ecuadorian organized crime also has a transnational component. For example, 'Los Lobos' (one of the most representative bands in Ecuador) already operate outside the country and there are other countries that should be alert. There is also talk of a possible alliance with the Aragua Train and illegal mining activities and illicit trafficking of migrants,” Rivera said.
EFE/ Carlos Durán Araújo
Alert in the south of the continent and Costa Rica
A study by Oeco showed that 'Los Lobos' were already operating, for example, in Chile. “The marijuana that leaves Colombia, and which has a very important core in Ecuador, also ends up in Chile and this puts them on alert about possible consequences,” the expert pointed out.
This coincides with a recent increase in homicides in Chile, which recorded 1,322 violent deaths in 2022, according to the UNODC report. This is equivalent to a rate of 6.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants and represents a considerable increase compared to 2018. Despite the increase, Chile remains one of the safest countries in the region. The feeling of insecurity, however, does not stop growing among the population and crime has become the greatest citizen concern, above inflation or unemployment.
The marijuana that leaves Colombia, and which has a very important nucleus in Ecuador, also ends up in Chile and this puts them on alert about possible consequences.
By the way, the Government of Chile He assured this Wednesday that the increase in violence that the country is experiencing “is far” from the unprecedented insecurity crisis that Ecuador is going through and assured that “the Chilean State has control of its prisons.”
On the other hand, Rivera highlights that another case that causes alert in Latin America is that of Costa Rica, a country that has no army. The analyst mentioned that due to the proximity of some Ecuadorian seaports in the Galapagos Islands, one of the stops for drug traffickers occurs in the Costa Rican province of Limón. “This has put the Central American country on high alert, not only for security, but also for alliances with Ecuadorian networks,” he mentioned.
(Also: 'Fito' and 'Capitán Pico', the escaped criminals who threaten security in Ecuador)
In fact, the UNODC recorded a rate of 12.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022. However, by September 2023 the country had already broken its record for violent deaths, accumulating 655 homicides, an increase of 46 percent compared to that same period in the previous year.
And by continuing to take an x-ray of other countries in the region, “in Argentina, a relatively safe country, the new governor of the province of Santa Fe sent his family away after receiving death threats from criminal groups operating in Rosario, a key corridor for drug trafficking to Europe,” explained Spinetto in a column published in Bloomberg.
Although the tentacles of the Ecuadorian gangs in the south of the continent are still being investigated, if we add to the Argentine case that Uruguay iseized more than 400 kilos of coca in December, this would reflect that the countries of northern South America and Central America They are not the only authors involved in the drug trafficking equation to take into account.
(You may be interested in: This is how drug mafias in Brazil and Ecuador use drones for trafficking and attacks)
And, according to experts, Uruguay went in the last five years from being a transit country to a storage country for cocaine that is mainly trafficked from Bolivia to Europe. The UN World Cocaine Report 2023 noted the growing importance of the so-called “Southern Cone Route”, that goes from Peru and Bolivia to the Río de la Plata estuary on the Atlantic coast of Argentina and Uruguay, generally through Paraguay and taking advantage of the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway, in combination with clandestine flights.
Military guards the areas surrounding the Radio Canela station.
A crisis to fight together
Faced with this regional crime puzzle, security expert David Saucedo, consulted by the Efe agency, advocated for a “continental effort” that coordinates the actions of the countries involved, such as Mexico, which must provide, above all, “information ” in order to close traffic routes.
“While the mafias (…) do have this scheme of collaboration, cooperation and financing, (…) this scheme of collaboration does not exist between the governments of Latin America and security forces to confront drug trafficking,” he remarked. .
But this could tempt the government to relapse into heavy-handedness and militarization. In fact, there are those who call for a “bukelization” of security policy in Latin American countries. However, Rivera highlights that resorting only to the Armed Forces as the only solution, although it can be effective in the short term and bring electoral returns, tends to be a short-term solution.
Ecuador went from being one of the safest in the region to becoming a combat zone, with drug trafficking gangs that challenge the authority of the State.
“Organized crime is much more complex. If you do not destroy the financing structure, it is very unlikely that the military response will generate positive scenarios. The serious thing for Latin America is that these populist responses can generate pressure on the justice system to give measures, even excessive ones, to people who do not necessarily have a link to the crime,” Rivera analyzed.
For now, the United States has already announced that it will send senior officials to help fight crime in Ecuador. This is the case, for example, of the head of the Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, and the undersecretary of the International Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement, Todd Robinson, as well as police officers to assist “in criminal investigations.”
Analysts cited by the AFP agency highlight that Washington's efforts should focus on strengthening controls at ports and airports, reforming prisons and developing investigation capacity. By the way, in dialogue with the AFP agency, Will Freeman, researcher for Latin America at the US think tank Council on Foreign Relations, agrees that the United States can provide key help in the fight against crime in the region. However, the expert goes much further and believes that even Europe should participate in the fight against organized crime in the region.
In any case, time is of the essence and “Ecuador has already become a logistics center for drug traffickers who send cocaine to the United States and Europe, and if nothing changes, it is on its way to being the first full-fledged narco-state in South America,” he says. Freeman.
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL
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