www.theguardian.com Open in urlscan Pro
2a04:4e42:600::367  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

https://www.google.co.uk/search

<form action="https://www.google.co.uk/search" class="dcr-g8v7m4"><label for="src-component-7298" class="dcr-0">
    <div class="dcr-suhoqp">Search input </div>
  </label><input type="text" id="src-component-7298" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false" aria-describedby="" required="" name="q" placeholder="Search" data-link-name="nav2 : search" tabindex="-1" class="selectableMenuItem dcr-1975ymr"><label
    class="dcr-0">
    <div class="dcr-suhoqp">google-search </div>
    <div class="dcr-190ztmi"><svg width="30" viewBox="-3 -3 30 30" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-hidden="true">
        <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd"
          d="M9.273 2c4.023 0 7.25 3.295 7.25 7.273a7.226 7.226 0 0 1-7.25 7.25C5.25 16.523 2 13.296 2 9.273 2 5.295 5.25 2 9.273 2Zm0 1.84A5.403 5.403 0 0 0 3.84 9.274c0 3 2.409 5.454 5.432 5.454 3 0 5.454-2.454 5.454-5.454 0-3.023-2.454-5.432-5.454-5.432Zm7.295 10.887L22 20.16 20.16 22l-5.433-5.432v-.932l.91-.909h.931Z">
        </path>
      </svg><span class="dcr-1p0hins">Search</span></div>
  </label><button type="submit" aria-live="polite" aria-label="Search with Google" data-link-name="nav2 : search : submit" tabindex="-1" class="dcr-1ykfoy6">
    <div class="src-button-space"></div><svg width="30" viewBox="-3 -3 30 30" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-hidden="true">
      <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M1 12.956h18.274l-7.167 8.575.932.932L23 12.478v-.956l-9.96-9.985-.932.932 7.166 8.575H1v1.912Z"></path>
    </svg>
  </button><input type="hidden" name="as_sitesearch" value="www.theguardian.com"></form>

Text Content

Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Print subscriptions
Sign in
Search jobs
Search
US edition
 * US edition
 * UK edition
 * Australia edition
 * International edition
 * Europe edition

The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian


SUPPORT THE GUARDIAN

Fund independent journalism with $5 per month
Support us

Support us
 * News
 * Opinion
 * Sport
 * Culture
 * Lifestyle

ShowMoreShow More
 * News
   * View all News
   * US news
   * World news
   * Environment
   * US politics
   * Ukraine
   * Soccer
   * Business
   * Tech
   * Science
   * Newsletters
   * Wellness
   
 * Opinion
   * View all Opinion
   * The Guardian view
   * Columnists
   * Letters
   * Opinion videos
   * Cartoons
   
 * Sport
   * View all Sport
   * Soccer
   * NFL
   * Tennis
   * MLB
   * MLS
   * NBA
   * NHL
   * F1
   * Golf
   
 * Culture
   * View all Culture
   * Film
   * Books
   * Music
   * Art & design
   * TV & radio
   * Stage
   * Classical
   * Games
   
 * Lifestyle
   * View all Lifestyle
   * Wellness
   * Fashion
   * Food
   * Recipes
   * Love & sex
   * Home & garden
   * Health & fitness
   * Family
   * Travel
   * Money
 * Search input
   google-search
   Search
   
   
    * Support us
    * Print subscriptions

   US edition
   * UK edition
   * Australia edition
   * International edition
   * Europe edition
   
 * * Search jobs
   * Digital Archive
   * Guardian Puzzles app
   * Guardian Licensing
   * About Us
   * The Guardian app
   * Video
   * Podcasts
   * Pictures
   * Inside the Guardian
   * Guardian Weekly
   * Crosswords
   * Wordiply
   * Corrections
   * Facebook
   * Twitter
 * * Search jobs
   * Digital Archive
   * Guardian Puzzles app
   * Guardian Licensing
   * About Us

 * World
 * Europe
 * US
 * Americas
 * Asia
 * Australia
 * Middle East
 * Africa
 * Inequality
 * Global development


Military personnel in Guayaquil detain men who broke into TC Televisión's live
broadcast on 9 January. Photograph: Getty Images
Military personnel in Guayaquil detain men who broke into TC Televisión's live
broadcast on 9 January. Photograph: Getty Images
OpinionEcuador



THE GUARDIAN VIEW ON ECUADOR’S GANG VIOLENCE: A DOMESTIC CRISIS WITH
TRANSNATIONAL ROOTS

Editorial



The Latin American nation, once relatively safe, is now in the grip of organised
crime. There are no swift or easy solutions

Wed 10 Jan 2024 13.37 ESTLast modified on Wed 10 Jan 2024 15.10 EST
 * 
 * 
 * 



“All I know is that it’s time to leave this country, and go very far away.”
Those words, from a staff member at the TV station attacked by masked gunmen
live on air on Tuesday, encapsulate the shock and despair that many in Ecuador
now feel. The assault on TC Televisión in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s most dangerous
city, was one of multiple spectacular and coordinated attacks by gangs, in which
at least 10 people were killed.

Murderous crime has soared over recent years. But this was not just about gangs
running rampant and battling each other with a sense of impunity, while
brutalising anyone who got in their way. The invasion of a university and
hospitals, the kidnapping and killing of police and prison guards, the torching
of cars in residential areas, attacks in the Amazon region and looting in the
capital, Quito – all these showed gangs operating well outside their usual
fiefdoms, banding together, and turning on national institutions and civilians
to try to force political leaders to back off. This strategic brutality, which
has been described as “violent lobbying”, has been used elsewhere in Latin
America, but is new to Ecuador. For many, it feels as if the fate of the country
itself is at stake.




The explosion of violence was precipitated by the new and inexperienced
president Daniel Noboa’s crackdown on organised crime, the escape from prison of
the feared gang boss Adolfo Macías, known as Fito, and Mr Noboa’s declaration of
a national state of emergency and curfew. The president said Ecuador was in
“internal armed conflict”, designated 20 gangs as terrorist groups and said the
military should “neutralise” them, albeit “within the bounds of international
humanitarian law”.

His campaign came in response to surging violence in a country once regarded as
largely safe and stable. The homicide rate rose more than six-fold between 2018
and 2023, to 40 murders per 100,000. The assassination last August of a
presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, who had campaigned on a platform
of tackling violence, crime and corruption, rocked the nation. This week marks a
new nadir.

Ecuador’s gangs have been transformed by their dealings with cartels and other
transnational crime groups. The country sits between two cocaine-producing
neighbours and has a long, porous coastline. The dollarised economy makes it
easier to move and launder illicit earnings. Counter-drugs operations in other
countries, and the disbanding of armed groups in Colombia, encouraged
traffickers to look farther afield. Slashing spending on security in the past,
due to IMF budget demands, didn’t help. And the insatiable appetite of consumers
for cocaine – particularly in Europe, the most lucrative market – has fuelled
the trade.



Mr Noboa, who faces an election next year, so far has the public on his side.
But Tuesday’s events show just how hard a struggle he faces in trying to rein in
the gangs. There are also profound questions about his approach. He has
announced that he has commissioned new maximum security and supermax prisons
modelled on those used in El Salvador by its president, Nayib Bukele.
Mr Bukele’s “iron fist” campaign against gangs has been wildly popular but
tramples over rights, and is highly unlikely to prove sustainable. A true,
long-term solution will be far harder to implement, requiring Ecuador to
cooperate internationally on tackling organised crime and to make rigorous,
well-planned, lasting efforts to tackle both corruption and poverty at home.

 * Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would
   like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for
   publication in our letters section, please click here.

Explore more on these topics
 * Ecuador
 * Opinion
 * Americas
 * Drugs
 * Drugs trade
 * Organised crime
 * editorials

 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

Reuse this content


MOST VIEWED

 * WHY LANDING ON THE MOON IS PROVING MORE DIFFICULT TODAY THAN 50 YEARS AGO
   
   

 * ‘THIS PERSON SHOULD NOT BE PRESIDENT’: KAMALA HARRIS TAKES HITS IN BOOK ON
   BIDEN
   
   

 * THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF MERLIN THE SPANIEL SHOWS HOW LITTLE HUMANS KNOW ABOUT
   DOGSRICHARD SUGG
   
   

 * ‘BOWIE’S TEETH WERE BLEEDING’: MOTT THE HOOPLE ON MAKING ALL THE YOUNG DUDES
   WITH DAVID
   
   

 * IRELAND’S LAST NUNS ARE DYING OUT. CAN WE CONDEMN THEIR ABUSES – AND ADMIT
   THE GOOD THEY DID TOO?DEARBHAIL MCDONALD
   
   





MOST VIEWED


MOST VIEWED



 * World
 * Europe
 * US
 * Americas
 * Asia
 * Australia
 * Middle East
 * Africa
 * Inequality
 * Global development

 * News
 * Opinion
 * Sport
 * Culture
 * Lifestyle

Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning
Sign up for our email

 * About us
 * Help
 * Complaints & corrections
 * SecureDrop
 * Work for us
 *  
 * Privacy policy
 * Cookie policy
 * Terms & conditions
 * Contact us

 * All topics
 * All writers
 * Digital newspaper archive
 * Facebook
 * YouTube
 * Instagram
 * LinkedIn
 * Twitter
 * Newsletters

 * Advertise with us
 * Guardian Labs
 * Search jobs


Back to top
© 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights
reserved. (dcr)