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Sao Paulo- The escape of the leader of the “Los Chorinos” mafia – the largest among 22 other mafia in… Ecuador– José Adolfo Macias Vigamar, “Vito,” on January 7, who has been detained in Guayaquil prison since 2008, sheds light on the role of these gangs in destabilizing the country’s security.
Vijamar's supporters stormed a local television station and arrested some of its employees and guests live on air. Then they stormed a university in the city of Guayaquil and kidnapped some citizens from various places, prompting President Daniel Noboa to declare a state of emergency in the country and assign the army to end the state of chaos.
Several countries in Latin America issued statements of solidarity with Ecuador, denouncing the criminality of mafia gangs, including the Brazilian government, which expressed its willingness to send its federal police to Ecuador to help restore security and stability.
Security crisis
In turn, Franklin Sarnerto Sanchez – a jurist who heads the “Escuela Popular” Center for Political Training specializing in defending social movements and organizations – says that this incident “constituted a major security crisis, as the rates of violent murder in the country have increased in recent years, and in 2023, 8,008 people were killed.” “This is double the number recorded in 2022, by about 4,500 people.”
Sanchez adds to Al Jazeera Net that this rebellion resulted in the holding of prison guards and administrative staff hostage, and the beginning of a wave of violence in the main cities, especially in Quito, Guayaquil, Esmeraldas, Machala, and Cuenca.
Cars were also burned and bombs were threatened, sparking fear and terror among the population, and the subsequent announcement of the start of internal armed conflict in Ecuador by the national government, implying the recognition of 22 criminal gangs as terrorists, which led to the mobilization of the armed forces and the declaration of a state of emergency.
Regarding the relationships that these gangs have forged with the Ecuadorian state agencies, Sanchez says, “This escape clearly shows the connection between drug traffickers and gangs with the country’s police and military services.”
He continues, “It is known that those who control the prisons from the inside are various gangs: Chorinos, Lobos, Tigirones, Aguilas, Mafia 18, Tribol Mafia, Chuni Killer and others. The government has now given them political status, that is, recognition by declaring them goals in the internal war.”
To a large extent, the situation is similar in most Latin American countries that were monitoring what is happening in Ecuador in terms of security chaos and the spread of drug trafficking gangs, albeit to different extents.
Ramifications
For his part, Brazilian legal expert and researcher in the field of political history, Ciro Garcia, told Al Jazeera Net, “What we see in Ecuador is similar to what we see in other Latin American countries, including Brazil Which insists on a failed public security policy that it calls the “war on drugs.”
He added, “This policy focuses on mass imprisonment, which ultimately leads to criminal factions linked to drug trafficking controlling prisons and becoming the real power within them.”
Garcia explains, “The Ecuadorian government’s response and declaration of a state of emergency was a preventive maneuver to criminalize social movements and segments mired in poverty, especially indigenous peoples’ movements.”American IndiansWe cannot lose sight of the fact that Ecuador is going through a continuous process of popular mobilization against economic plans that every day lead to a deterioration in the conditions of the most vulnerable groups.
As for the researcher in constitutional law and coordinator of the “Constitutionalists Forum” in Mexico Roman Lazcano Fernandez says, “Officially, the Mexican state has not taken any position on the escape, but at the popular level there is concern about the anti-drug policy followed in Latin America and the clear links between the cartels in Mexico and in Latin America.”
He added, “I think it is important to adopt a new anti-drug policy on the American continent in which all countries participate, and appropriate policies are put in place to limit and eliminate the capabilities of criminal groups in Latin America.”
As for the Ecuadorian side, jurist Franklin Sanchez says, “A short while ago, Ecuador signed an agreement with… United State To obtain intelligence support and bring in military forces to confront this phenomenon, which may mean that it will become a new American enclave for geopolitical control over the region, noting that the governments Venezuela AndColombia AndBolivia Brazil is not compatible with the policies North America“.
He adds that the terms of the agreement stipulate that the US army will enjoy impunity on Ecuadorian territory, as it will be granted immunity from prosecution in the United States.
“Failed programme”
But, how can the phenomenon of violence associated with drug trafficking gangs be addressed? Roman Fernandez answers, “In Mexico, it is clear that the “Hugs, Not Bullets” program instituted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not achieve the result expected of it, given that this administration will currently end its term with more than 200,000 dead in local fighting between organized crime groups.”
He added, “Given these circumstances, a new policy must be adopted to combat drug trafficking groups through measures that can combine confronting these gangs and increasing growth rates before this phenomenon escalates and becomes a global problem.”
Ciro Garcia says, “The so-called 'war on drugs' is nothing more than a policy of criminalizing poverty and encouraging genocide against black citizens, especially young people in poor neighborhoods and suburbs, in addition to the mass imprisonment of black youth. It is a failed policy that fuels arms and drug trafficking.” .
He stresses that it is “a policy that harms innocent children, workers, and marginalized groups on a daily basis. This disaster must be put to an end. We need to criminalize drugs because it is an issue related to public health and not public safety, and to ban military operations in poor neighborhoods, guarantee public education and free health, and provide job opportunities.” For those living in slums and suburbs.”
As for Franklin Sanchez, he believes that the problem of security and drug trafficking is structural and can be treated through distributing wealth, investment, and creating job opportunities, but he adds that this government and its predecessors “are moving in the opposite direction, and are only proposing to confront and combat thousands of young people who have been seduced by drug traffickers and gangs with violence because of the lack of “Opportunities.”
