RFI interviewed Ecuadorian police general William Villarroel about the new armed attack that occurred in Guayaquil the day before, which left six dead and eight injured. Two weeks ago, in the same city, five people were killed, including a policeman, and eight others were injured in another attack. Both cases are apparently linked to drug trafficking.
It is the second such attack so far in June. According to the police, it was a settling of scores between rival gangs, something that has become frequent in Guayaquil. Illegal groups linked to drug trafficking dispute control of the territory. This was indicated by the general of the police, William Villarroel, to RFI.
“These criminal events are explained because (criminals) want to seize the territory through violence. To exercise control over certain territories, they use short and long-range firearms. In addition, Guayaquil is a city with a port. There are also criminal groups that provide logistics. They can, for example, take advantage of the estuary to contaminate (with drugs) the ships that sail abroad. We also have the issue of micro-trafficking. Here we face both situations,” sums up Villarroel.
Regarding the reasons that explain the increase in violence and drug trafficking in Guayaquil, General Villaroel insisted on the “port” characteristic of the Ecuadorian city, but also stressed “the increase in coca plantations in Colombia, our neighboring country “. It is true that Colombia has increased its coca plantations, but Ecuador surpassed Brazil and Colombia in the number of tons of cocaine sent to Europe, according to the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In the first half of 2023 alone, Ecuador seized some 100 tons of drugs and in 2022, more than 200 tons.
In this sense, the Ecuadorian police general, William Villarroel, acknowledges that “so far in the last quarter we have had more drug seizures compared to previous months.” The authorities’ plan to fight violence consists of “focusing the phenomenon and that is why the districts have been prioritized. In particular, the way in which these points are going to be patrolled with the preventive axis, the uniformed axis, as well as the operatives that we are going to do for people, vehicles and motorcycles”.
Clashes between drug trafficking groups have also led to massacres in the country’s prisons, which to date have left more than 420 prisoners dead since February 2021.
