Only two legal activities, commerce and manufacturing industries, generate more money. The authorities seized 20% of the drug exports that leave Ecuador.
The economic power of the bands is one of the main reasons why it is difficult to control the escalation of crime and violence orchestrated from the jails.
The drug trafficking, the illegal commerce from weapons and extortion move billions a year, which facilitates the judicial corruption, political and even police.
The same networks that are used to transport weapons, especially under the auspices of the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación, also serve to exportbig r drug shipments.
This drug is produced mainly in Colombia and part of the Ecuadorian ports of Esmeraldas, Manabí and Guayas.
During 2021, the Police seized around 170 tons of cocaine. Only those shipments are valued at $ 4.25 billion, since each ton is traded at $ 25 million.
According to reports from the Police and other security authorities, in the best of cases, up to 20% of the drug that is exported from the country. In other words, the foreign cartels, with the help of national bands, move approximately 800 tons per year of cocaine and others narcotics.
In recent years, more and more legal exports have been detected (bananas, shrimp, among others, arriving at European ports contaminated with drugs In July 2021, the banana cluster reported that more than 17 tons had been detected in containers bound for eight countries such as Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
Thus, the criminal activity generates more than $ 20,000 million a year. That amount, when compared to the legal economy, is only surpassed by the movement of commerce ($ 50.2 billion annually) and manufacturing industries ($ 23.9 billion).
In this way, drug trafficking is, in fact, the third economic activity largest in the entire country, even surpassing sectors such as finance and insurance, agriculture and transportation, construction, among others.
Ernesto Izurieta, economist and researcher on criminal economy issues, explained that the Mexican cartels, through their armed and operational arms in the country, have enough monetary power to destabilize governments and institutions.
“There are too many millions at stake and the capacity to corrupt is very high, taking into account that in Ecuador there is more than 60% of the economy in informality and with low incomes,” he said.
More than $ 120 million for the management of prisons
According to an investigation by the Glass Code portal, the Lobos, Choneros, Tiguerones and Largatos gangs run a lucrative business within 54 prisons from the country.
The police intelligence services have come to calculate that, each year, around $ 120 million are moved thanks to a network of several illegal activities. Faced with the abandonment of the State and without basic living conditions, those illegal activitiess, which represent up to $ 11 million a month, include the sale of drugs, charges and extortions to prisoners, use of cell phones and gaming weapons, sale of liquor and food.
These illicit revenues are more than enough, according to Izurieta, to buy direct and veiled support from prison guides, prison officials and judges. And it is even enough to order hitmen and criminal operations outside the prisons.
During 2021 alone, the Police have confiscated 162 kilos of cocaine, 82 firearms, 1,879 bullets, grenades, sharps, cell phones and thousands of liters of liquor in prisons. (JS)
Arms smuggling seizures on the rise
In the last week alone, Ecuador Customs (Senae) reported two arms seizures. Thus, on November 25, 2021, camouflaged rifle parts were found in shoe and clothing parcels. Everything was hidden on a flight from New York.
Also, on Monday, November 22, 2,000 munitions were found camouflaged in duvets, aboard a flight coming from Miami.
Most of the contraband, however, would be arriving from the southern border (Peru and Chile)
During this year, police operations have seized thousands of weapons and ammunition in the Carchi, Esmeraldas, Manabí and Guayas provinces. The business moves millions of dollars
However, the legal import of arms averaged $ 378,000 in the last three years. According to the Senae, in 2019, $ 622,000 were imported; while in 2021, the figure reaches $ 246,000.
The main products that reach the country are weapons of war, revolvers and pistols.
