Criminal organizations paint murals to claim territories

In Guayllabamba, two graffiti appeared showing the colors of the Mexican flag and symbols of drug trafficking. The neighbors are scared.

The murals they have pictures alluding to drugs, weapons and money. They are not simple graffiti. They are paintings that occupy entire walls. In these images there are symbols of criminal gangs that are dedicated to drug trafficking. Thus, criminal organizations they delimit their territory in Quito and other cities in the country.

Two graphics were painted on a wall that connects Guayllabamba with El Quinche, at the northern end of the capital. In one of the creations you can see the face of the drug trafficker Pablo Escobar accompanied by submachine guns. It is the newest. It appeared two months ago.

In the other mural you can see a wolf and an arm intertwined. Both are against the background of the Mexican flag and below a sign that says Los Lobos. It is one year old.

After the first prison massacre, on February 23, the criminal organizations issued video messages from the prisons. Los Lobos, Chone Killers, Tiguerones and a faction of Latin Kings and Vatos Locos They assured that they had formed a new structure called Nueva Generación, which would have support from the Mexican cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación. Murals containing the symbols of organizations and the flag of Mexico.

The commander of the Metropolitan District Police, César Zapata, says that he “has no information” about the painting of the ‘drug murals’, as the neighbors have baptized them. Agents working in the sector maintain that the gangs painted them to claim Guayllabamba as its territory. Nobody dares to erase them.

In that rural parish of Quito, 24-year-old Erick Caizaluiza was assassinated last August. His relatives say that he had received death threats for his alleged participation in the business of the microtraffic.

It is not the only place in Quito where figures related to cartels are observed. In the south, in Santa Rita, A wall on Chilla Street is painted with colors from the Mexican flag, weapons and skulls. There, you can see the acronym VL. Prison leaders indicate that a part of that organization supports them.

Police reports show that there are at least 9 violent events this year that have to do directly with the dispute over territories or the sale of drugs. (See box).

Murders

In the investigations carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office on the double murder that occurred against two people in The Railroad this year, the Los Lobos gang is mentioned. It also investigates what criminal structure was behind the crime against a woman in Carapungo, on September 11. She was shot from a vehicle when she was about to sell drug doses.

The Police detected that in other cities the gangs already use this system to identify their territories.

The first investigations indicate that the gendarmes had carried out drug prevention work in the La Guacharaca neighborhood. One of the last actions was to have removed murals that were related to the criminal group Los Tiguerones that operates in the area. Then they received threats and even a motorist took photographs of all the police officers.

At night, the uniformed men who were in the Community Police Unit (UPC) were surprised by men who used long weapons. On the attack Agent Duesis Valencia died.

In Guayaquil, the Prosecutor’s Office identified that a criminal gang painted graffiti on the exterior of a house before murdering five members of a family. Everything was related to micro-trafficking.

Penitentiary Intelligence has identified pavilions in the prisons of Cotopaxi, Guayaquil and Turi (Cuenca) where large graffiti of Los Choneros and Las Águilas have been placed, currently facing New Generation. “So they claim entire pavilions for a criminal organization ”, said an agent consulted. (DPV)