The InSight Take: Ecuador’s Kingpin Strategy Has Tactical Wins, but Strategic Uncertainty
The capture of Ecuadorian crime boss Wilmer Chavarría, alias “Pipo,” was a major victory for President Daniel Noboa’s strategy of…
Mapping Latin America’s Megaprisons
In the three years since President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele opened his famous Terrorism Confinement Center (Centro de Confinamiento…
Ecuador Says Extortion Is Down. The Reality Is More Complicated.
It was time for after-school pickup at the San Francisco de Asís elementary school in downtown Guayaquil one recent afternoon…
From Airstrikes to Cooperation: Will the ‘New Phase’ of Ecuador’s Drug War Deliver?
Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa says that, two years in, his organized crime crackdown is entering a “new phase” that combines…
Map: Military Strikes Target Complex Criminal Landscape on Colombia-Ecuador Border
Ecuador’s armed forces, backed by the United States military, conducted airstrikes on camps on March 6 that they claim belonged…
Ecuador’s Official Security Claims Belie Reality
Ecuador’s government marked two years in office by trumpeting the results of its hardline anti-crime policies. But its claims of…
Massacres, Alliances, and Betrayals: Inside the Gang War That Tore Ecuador’s Tiguerones Apart
About 20 armed members of the Tiguerones criminal group lurked in the hills on the outskirts of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s port…
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…
Guayaquil Massacre a Harsh Reminder of Ecuador’s Security Reality
Warring factions of the Tiguerones criminal group carried out one of Ecuador’s worst-ever massacres, as the government continues to struggle…
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…