Mexican Cartels Fueling Ecuadoran Violence

Ecuadorian gangs running rampant in the out-of-control country have "unlimited money" to fight a bloody war with government forces thanks to investment from Mexican cartels.

The South American nation has been plunged into misery after a turf ware between rival gangs escalated so badly that the government has designated gangs as terrorist organizations. The state has even allocated funding to buy 24 million gun cartridges, a figure that far exceeds the population of 17.8 million.

A state of "internal armed conflict" was declared earlier this month after a swathe of attacks in its prisons and gunning down of officials, many of them in the Guayaquil area. The outbursts came after one of the country's most notorious drug kingpins – José Adolfo Macías Villamar, or 'Fito' – escaped from jail.   Experts say that Ecuador, on the continent's west coast, is in a strategically important position on the cocaine route. And despite having no cocaine-production history its position between Peru and Colombia makes it a victim to the brutal industry.

And backing from huge Mexican cartels means the Ecuadorian gangs are acting with impunity and have the funds to fight back against the government crackdown, according to Rita Floyd, Senior Lecturer in Conflict and Security at the University of Birmingham in the U.K.    According to Floyd, the two main Ecuadorian gangs, Los Lobos and Los Choneros, have backing from the Jalisco New Generation and the Sinaloa cartels.  "These groups are very dangerous. They are accountable to no one but themselves. They have no regard for the state, and – in the war between the government and the gangs – they have declared civilians legitimate targets," Floyd said.

"Similar to terrorists, organized crime groups rule through fear. Local people often have little choice but being drawn into working with them. It is that, or die," she said.  "The Mexican cartels that are said to have ties with them have unlimited money to fight Ecuador's president and military. Moreover, it is not their people dying in this war, but local recruits for either camp."  Floyd added that this could "essentially" create a proxy war between Mexican cartels and the Ecuadorian government to keep cocaine flowing freely.