The country has changed, claiming peace has returned and that the mafias have hours counted, boasting by the Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa as he marks a year in office. But the news counters a government grappling with three major crises at once: energy shortages with outages lasting up to fourteen hours and security challenges. Added to this is the fallout from the de facto removal of Vice President Verónica Abad. The murder last Friday of Olger Moreno, the deputy head of security at Cotopaxi prison, did little more than widen the gap between official statements and the crime reality. Moreno was shot twice in the head in broad daylight, a few kilometers from the penitentiary, one of the most dangerous facilities in the country.
The boldness of hitmen amid street militarization has surprised observers. Within two months of taking office, Noboa declared an internal armed conflict to confront violence inside prisons and on the streets. Just before Moreno’s killing, the Anti-Narcotics Police had seized 818 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a container at the port of Guayaquil, a route used by traffickers to move the drug. Simultaneously, the Service for Attention to People Deprived of Liberty, known as SNAI, reported the relocation of 1,193 inmates from two central Andean prisons. Some inmates from Cotopaxi were moved to a prison in Tungurahua, and others were moved in the opposite direction.
Several prisons are under military control, yet the hard line has not eliminated certain levels of autonomy inside the facilities. Between 2021 and 2023, more than 500 inmates were killed in the context of gang disputes that extend beyond the walls of the prisons to the cities where these groups operate. Prison violence seeps into street life, fueling fear and insecurity. At present, Ecuador records the highest homicide rate in Latin America, with 47.2 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023.
The internal armed conflict has been marked by state abuses. Arrests of adolescents and younger youths have increased. Amnesty International has warned that current security policies fail to meet basic human rights standards.
Adolescence and Drug Trafficking
In the midst of darkened cities and a labor market shaped by informality and urban poverty, the Technical University of Machala in the south conducted alarming findings based on police data. The data indicate that around 60 percent of narcotics trafficking gang members are teenagers. During a recent seminar, specialists emphasized social, economic, and cultural factors that facilitate youth recruitment by these groups. If society does not raise awareness about the dangers of recruiting minors, the groups will continue to grow, warned Joffre Rodríguez. The message was clear: youth vulnerabilities must be addressed to curb criminal recruitment.
Iván Aguilar, a representative of the National Police at the event, acknowledged that in many cases gangs target young people because they are easier to manipulate and less likely to face harsh punishment. In marginalized neighborhoods or near ports, the breeding ground for young soldiers of the narcotics networks can be found. Poverty and social exclusion run so deep that many youths see crime as a path to survival, Aguilar stated.
Arrests in Tarragona
In this context, security forces reported the capture of two leaders from the Los Tiguerones gang, the second most important in Ecuador, in Segur de Calafell near Tarragona. The Guardia Civil and Ecuadorian police detained William Joffre Alcívar Bautista, alias Comandante Willy, credited with the killing of prosecutor César Suárez while investigating the brazen attack on a television channel by a squad from that gang. According to El Comercio, his brother Alex Alcívar Bautista, alias Ronco, was also arrested. This cross-border operation highlights the seriousness with which authorities are pursuing organized crime across the region.