Illegal Arms Trafficking Is Ecuador’s Security Blind Spot
In recent years, Ecuador has been engulfed in a wave of violence driven by organized crime — a crisis fueled…
The US Just Unsealed Drugs and Weapons Charges Against Ecuadorian Gang Boss ‘Fito’
The indictment of one of Ecuador’s top criminals by a US federal court suggests that he is still directing his…
Corruption Sentences Pile Up in Ecuador, But Will It Matter?
Prosecutors in Ecuador have secured an unprecedented string of convictions in a series of high-profile corruption cases that have rocked…
The Criminal Creep of Ecuador’s Gangs Into Peru
As unknown men marched through a rural indigenous community in Peru’s Amazonian province of Condorcanqui, residents looked on with a…
Ecuador’s Lobos Turn El Oro Province Into Battleground
The Ecuadorian coastal province El Oro has emerged as a new hotspot for violence, as splintering criminal groups compete for…
Violence Transforms Ecuador’s Migration Landscape
A year after Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared war on organized crime, the country is grappling with a surge in…
Ecuador Gang Dynamic Feeds Record Homicides
The recent killing of a prominent Ecuadorian gang leader may further fuel violence in Durán, one of the country’s most…
GameChangers 2024: Ecuador Finds Victory Elusive in ‘War on Gangs’
Ecuador became the latest Latin American nation to turn to a militarized response to combat organized crime in 2024. But…
The Evolution of Ecuador’s Prison Crisis
Over the last five years, Ecuador has been engulfed in violence and a criminal chaos unprecedented in its modern history.…
Massacres Surge as Gangs Atomize in Ecuador
A recent series of massacres in Ecuador is further evidence that more access to high-powered weapons, heightened impunity, and an…