The Perils of Ecuador’s Drug Smuggling Fishermen
As Noboa wages a US-backed crackdown, CrashOut visits a narco sea village
On Sunday, Ecuador’s president, and ally of Trump, Daniel Noboa declared a new offensive against gangs and cartels that have drowned the nation in blood, deploying tens of thousands of troops and declaring a nightly curfew in swathes of the country. The crackdown has caused tensions with Colombia, with accusations of cross-border bombs, and comes as U.S. forces continue to missile-strike alleged drug boats in the Pacific and Caribbean. With these big events shaking, I’m stoked that CrashOut’s top “nar-corresponsal” is on the ground and brings us this unique report from an Ecuadorean fishing village that many drug smugglers hail from.
By Niko Vorobyov
In 2011, a low budget Ecuadorian film, Pescador (Fisherman), told the true-ish story of a coastal seafarer who finds a package of cocaine washed up ashore and sells it back to the narcos, using it to pay for a journey of self-discovery across Ecuador. Looking back, it was rather quaint.
“We’re not seeing people’s severed heads on a daily basis as a consequence of a drug war, which is what’s happening in Mexico,” the director told the BBC at the time.
In contrast, this January, five heads were found hanging off a wooden post on a beach in the coastal Manabí province, southwest Ecuador, sans their original owners. Times have clearly changed.
“The town belongs to us. Keep going out to rob the fishermen and demanding vaccination certificates [extortion payments], we already have you all fully identified. You’re all gonna die the same way, with your necks twisted,” read a narcomanta next to the macabre exhibit on Puerto López beach, which is better-known for tourists to go whale-watching.
Investigators believe the quintuple beheading…
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