Sep 30, 2012

Ecuador: Battleground Between Mexican and Colombian Cartels?

InSight Crime: Mexican and Colombian groups may soon start battling it out for control of drug trafficking routes in Ecuador, something that could further threaten the country’s already precarious security situation.

The drug trade through Ecuador has historically been controlled by Colombia’s criminal groups who, until recently, essentially held a monopoly over corridors moving through and out of the country. This is gradually changing however, with Mexican transnational criminal groups interested in moving further down the drug chain to cut out Colombian middlemen. As one anti-narcotics agent told El Comercio, “Colombian cartels no longer have the same power.”

Mexican gangs linked to Ecuador’s drug trade had traditionally played the role of buyers from Colombian cartels, due to the fact that they didn't have the operational capacity to move their own product from Ecuador northwards, another anti-narcotics official told the newspaper. Read more. 

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