"Where are the weapons?" : in Ecuador, the gangs in the sights of the army

April 23, 2023

A large military convoy bursts into a poor neighborhood in the port of Esmeraldas, in northern Ecuador. Armed with rifles and machine guns, the soldiers corner a member of one of the country’s most feared criminal gangs in his hiding place.

Violence linked to drug trafficking is endemic in Ecuador and President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency on March 3 in three provinces of the country, including those of Esmeraldas.

The convoy carries a hundred soldiers and police. Dressed in bulletproof vests, they weave their way through the narrow streets under the wary gaze of the locals. Some break down a heavy gate. “Where are the weapons?”, shouts a hooded soldier to a group of young people lying on the ground.

A suspect is arrested. Obviously, he belongs to the “Tiguerones”, one of the most feared criminal gangs in the country.

With long hair tied back and a tiger tattoo on his right ankle, he is one of more than 900 suspected criminals arrested nationwide since a state of emergency was imposed in early March, authorities said.

-“Minors”-

In these poor neighborhoods, gang members hide “among the crowd of normal people”, police colonel Julio César Vasquez told AFP. “A high percentage of the dead are people under 30” and “there are many minors” among them, underlines Colonel Vasquez.

The police fly over the area in helicopters in search of speedboats loaded with drugs sailing on the river which leads to the port.

Located between Colombia and Peru – the world’s leading cocaine producers – Ecuador seized an annual record 210 tonnes of drugs in 2021, mostly cocaine.

At the same time, the homicide rate nearly doubled. Between 2021 and 2022, it rose from 14 to 25 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the authorities.

On April 11, around 30 armed men opened fire in the port of Esmeraldas, killing nine people. The attackers arrived by boat and car before shooting indiscriminately at those present.

Despite the number of soldiers deployed by presidential order, fear reigns in this city of some 200,000 inhabitants.

Shops are padlocked and some hotels and large businesses are for sale.

“The gangs, the insecurity, they don’t let us work freely. We hear the neighbors say that they are being extorted (…) there are no guarantees to continue working”, complains Jofre Mancillo , owner of a grocery store.