Ecuadorians go to the polls on Sunday in the shadow of Increased drug violence and a worrying explosion in the number of local gangs and mafias.
An avalanche of cocaine from Colombia and Peru until Ecuadorian ports He has attracted WHO is who from Mafias from Albania to Italy to Mexico to this Andean nation once sure.
But it has also created a large number of local groups with striking names and fierce reputations.
“The Freddy Kruegers” cause nightmares in the streets “, the ugly headquarters of women” run in prisons and “The Peaky Blinders” try to govern the waves of a key coastal area.
Together and many other groups terrorize citizens through extortion, kidnapping and murder campaigns.
In January and February, Ecuador registered more than one death every hour, according to the figures of the Ministry of Interior.
The mafias “have been gaining space; it is complex to fight them”, admits the police commander of Guayaquil, Pablo Davila.
The situation has put security in the center of the presidential runoff on Sunday between the headline Daniel Nnovera and the leftist candidate Luisa González.
Rodrigo Buendia/AFP through Getty Images 
Novoa declared a Emergency status and displayed troops In the streets and prisons plagued by violence, they result in a slight fall in homicide rates in 2024 of the previous year. President Tok’s action last year after The gunmen broke and opened fire In a television study and bandits threatened the random executions of civilians and security forces. A prosecutor who investigates the assault was later Dead thrown.
“They demanded $ 15000 not to kill us”
A merchant remembers the day a bomb exploded in the restaurant in Guayaquil, the country’s economic capital and crime.
“They said they were from the mafia. They demanded $ 15000 not to kill us,” said the woman, who asked not to be named for her safety, she told AFP.
Many local gangs have been associated with much larger posters in Mexico and Colombia, as well as Albanian and Italian mafias.
But local gangs have also fractured and proliferated while looking for their own piece of cake.
“The war is on territory. There are leaders known as before. All are their independence,” said the head of a gang on condition of anonymity.
The situation is causing serious headaches for Ecuadorian security services, which must now gather intelligence and act against a constant change in actors.
Security expert Carla Álvarez compares the situation with the Colombian chaos of the 1990s.
“We see an association of small and less rigid grouts. This already happened in Colombia in the 1990s after the death of Pablo Escobar,” he said.
In Ecuador, hierarchies broke in 2018 when one of the largest organizations separated.
The death of the leader of “Choneros” Jorge Luis Zambrano in 2020 left a void of power.
The impact is now felt on Quito relatively safe, once a shelter of drug violence, but more and more on the front line.
There, the Marianela restaurant employee receives threats and extortion through WhatsApp. “Block them,” he said.
But the violence in the streets of its neighborhood of Martha Bucaram cannot be ignored.
Police and military appear regularly, looking for weapons and drugs. “There were about two dead here in the corner,” he said, remembering a recent shooting.
Carolina Andrade, a Secretary of Municipal Security, admits that without the presence of security of Guayaquil, the capital, the capital looks as “a safe space to come and hide.”
As new alliances and actors arise, there may be worse to come.
Multiple narrower gangs are now trying to join “larger organizations to have a greater presence, legitimacy and territorial control,” Andrade said.
At least two leaders of high profile Ecuadorian gangs attacked by the United States have reached the headlines this year. Earlier this month, the fugitive leader of “Los Cherones” that depended on the Seros, bribes and military weapons to do business was Accused in New York City By charges, it imported thousands of pounds from cocaine to the United States. José Adolfo Macías Villamar, whose nickname is “Fito”, escaped from a prison in Ecuador last year and is not in custody of the United States.
AP 
In 2024, the United States Treasury imposed sanctions on “Los Choneros”.
Earlier this year, he was a leader of one of the largest crimes unions in Ecuador, “Los Lobos”, was Arrested at home In the coastal city of Portoviejo. Carlos D, widely known for his alias “El Chino”, was the second in command of “Los Lobos” and “considered a target of high value,” the armed forces said in a statement.
He United States last year declared Lobos Be the Larst drug trafficking organization in Ecuador.