All About Ecuador

NEWS

4 Security Challenges Awaiting Ecuador’s Next President

DRUG POLICY / 20 APR 2021

Ecuador’s next president will face an unprecedented set of security challenges, as prison violence has soared to record levels, the country’s corruption is receiving international attention and the criminal situation…

Ecuador’s Self-Defeating Anti-Trafficking Law

COCAINE / 12 APR 2021

While authorities in Ecuador tally record cocaine seizures, a change to the criminal code in the Andean country has possibly made it more difficult to prosecute large-scale traffickers.

A Large Galápagos Tortoise Seizure Raises Red Flags

ECUADOR / 5 APR 2021

Authorities in Ecuador have seized close to 200 baby tortoises native to the Galápagos Islands that are coveted in the exotic reptile trade.

The Fuel Not the Fuse: Drug Trafficking and Ecuador’s Prison Violence

ECUADOR / 22 MAR 2021

Drug trafficking and transnational organized crime have been blamed for deadly riots among rival gangs in Ecuador's prisons, but the carnage has more to do with how the country's gangs…

Los Choneros

ECUADOR / 25 FEB 2021

Los Choneros is one of Ecuador’s most prominent criminal groups, which first emerged in the late 1990s as a drug trafficking organization based in the city of Manta, a beach…

Ecuador Confronts Unprecedented Levels of Prison Violence

ECUADOR / 24 FEB 2021

Long-simmering tensions between prison gangs in Ecuador exploded this week, leaving at least 75 people brutally killed in four prisons across the country.

Hide and Seek: How Drug Traffickers Get Creative at Sea

BRAZIL / 20 FEB 2021

Drug traffickers engage in a creative game of hide and seek with coast guards and other security forces that board their ships at sea.

The Rise of “Plata” over “Plomo:” The Cancer of Corruption

COCAINE / 9 FEB 2021

In July 2020, British drug trafficker Robert Dawes was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in one of the most emblematic European drug trafficking cases of the…

InSight Crime’s 2020 Homicide Round-Up

ARGENTINA / 29 JAN 2021

While unrest gripped much of Latin America in 2019, it was the coronavirus that took center stage and ripped through the region in 2020, upending everything from commercial trade to…

Libya, North Africa Emerge As Cocaine Transit Hubs

BRAZIL / 11 JAN 2021

Within the span of a week, cocaine was discovered in two separate maritime cargo containers bound for Libya, a strong indication that both the north African country and broader region…

Albanian Mafia Leaves Trail of Blood in Ecuador

COCAINE / 5 JAN 2021

The assassination of Albanian national Adriatik Tresa inside his luxury property in Ecuador has revealed details of his alleged criminal activities, painting a picture of violent Albanian drug emissaries operating…

Shrimp Gangs Rob, Extort, Kill in Ecuador

ECUADOR / 2 JAN 2021

The persistent robbery, extortion, assault and even murder of shrimp farm workers by armed gangs in Ecuador has led the shrimp sector to once more demand gun reforms, in a…

Proxy Gang Wars Fuel Record Homicides in Ecuador’s Prisons

CONTRABAND / 14 DEC 2020

An ongoing gang war in Ecuador’s prisons has made 2020 the bloodiest year on record for inmates, underscoring how the country’s penitentiary system cannot contain the escalating conflict among an…

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4 FEB 2021

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THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area

ARGENTINA / 25 JAN 2021

Through several rounds of extensive field investigations, our researchers have analyzed and mapped out the main illicit economies and criminal groups present in 39 border departments spread across the six countries of study – the Northern Triangle trio of Guatemala, Honduras, and El…

BRIEF

InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize

COLOMBIA / 20 NOV 2020

The staff at InSight Crime was awarded the prestigious Simón Bolívar national journalism prize in Colombia for its two-year investigation into the drug trafficker known as “Memo Fantasma,” which was…

ANALYSIS

InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works

COLOMBIA / 12 NOV 2020

This project began 10 years ago as an effort to address a problem: the lack of daily coverage, investigative stories and analysis of organized crime in the Americas. …

ANALYSIS

InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas

FEATURED / 2 NOV 2020

In early 2009, Steven Dudley was in Medellín, Colombia. His assignment: speak to a jailed paramilitary leader in the Itagui prison, just south of the city. Following his interview inside…

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