Over the last decade, Ecuador has quietly emerged as a key piece of the global drug trade, with up to a third of Colombia’s record cocaine production now exported through the country.
Cocaine produced in southern Colombia is trafficked into Ecuador through the lawless border provinces of Esmeraldas and Sucumbíos by ex-FARC Mafia groups. Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel has also made its presence felt.
These networks have penetrated the state, contaminating the security forces, the judiciary, and the highest levels of government.
Investigation Chapters
Ecuador: A Cocaine Superhighway to the US and Europe
Little attention is paid to Ecuador. The murder rate is low, and there are no drug cartels like those that have dominated the criminal landscape in Mexico and Colombia. Yet Ecuador is one of the world’s cocaine superhighways.
Esmeraldas: An Ecuador Province Gripped by Drug Conflict
For the Ecuadorean province of Esmeraldas on the Pacific side of the Colombia border, 2019 began with a warning that the horrors of the past year were no aberration.
Sucumbíos: Lawless Ecuador Border Province Is Sanctuary for Traffickers
In January 2019, heavily armed gunmen traveling in a truck and on a motorbike ambushed a small group of anti-narcotics agents in Sucumbíos, the Ecuadorean province that borders Colombia in the Amazon region. The shootout that followed left one agent dead, and two more severely injured.
Treasure, Corruption and Legal Machinations – Gerald’s Legacy in Ecuador
Gerald’s rise to becoming one of the most notorious drug traffickers Ecuador has produced to date was meteoric. But his fall has been just as dramatic, exposing not only the violence and betrayal characteristic of the cocaine trade, but also the corruption that is rotting away the Ecuadorean state from within.
Telmo Castro – The Sinaloa Cartel’s Man in Ecuador
For Ecuador, the death of one of the country’s most notorious homegrown drug traffickers was the end of an era. But for his Mexican bosses, Telmo Castro’s demise will do little to interrupt their thriving pipeline of cocaine through Ecuador.
