Ecuador is the most violent country in Latin America

The the uncertain crisis that has been going on for almost three years now, Ecuador has reached the bottom in 2023. and will end up with a violent death rate of more than 40 per 100,000 inhabitants, making it the most violent country in Latin America.

And in Ecuador almost every hour one person dies in the context of criminal violencewith a number of 7,497 violent deaths in the year, only up to last December 17.

Therefore, it is very likely that Ecuador ends this year with a rate of 40 to 42 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitantswhich would make this once peaceful country the most insecure and violent country in all of Latin America, according to security expert Carolina Andrade.

Actually, In the sector of Nueva Prosperina, a neighborhood in the south of Guayaquil, capital of the coastal province of Guayas, the rate reaches 114 per 100,000 inhabitants.one of the highest rates on the planet.

Killed by killers last August presidential candidate Fernando Villavicenciowhen leaving the meeting in Quito, as well as the one from Agustín Intriago, Mayor of Mantain July, two of the cases that resonated the most and touched the country because of their political implications.

But prison massacres due to brutal feuds between gangs criminals fighting for control of prison centers or shootings in popular areas where ‘micro-trafficking’ mafias operate or the ‘mistaken’ murders of children who were sleeping at home in a poor neighborhood of Guayaquil.

And on top of that, just look at headlines like the one in El Universo newspaper on December 30, when it was highlighted the “night of terror” experienced by the city of Esmeraldas the day beforethe capital of the coastal province of the same name and on the border with Colombia, where there were “burned vehicles” and several shootings.

“Assassins shot a vehicle in front of a shopping center in Daule (the neighboring city of Guayaquil) or “The prosecutor’s office (in Quito) protects its facilities by warning of possible attacks”the newspaper reported in other headlines of the day.

The rise in violence is also a consequence of context the economic crisis that the country survived under the presidency of the conservative Guillermo Lassowho ruled between August 2021 and November 2023, almost half of his term was cut short by himself to avoid parliamentary censure over a case of alleged corruption.

During menstruation Alleged links between the mafia and high police and military authorities have been reported.in the case of the so-called ‘narco-general’ and whose name came from the United States Embassy in Quito itself.

According to Andrade, Drug trafficking is the main trigger for the explosion of insecurity in the countrywith its tentacles holding not only parts of the population, but also institutions such as the financial system and the state itself.

Drug-trafficking mafias are known to use official export systems in Ecuador to send drugs to Europe and the United Statesbig consumers.

According to experts, 70% of the money from the drug trade is laundered or laundered in the financial system and only 30% is diluted in the informal economy.

A United Nations report recently revealed that among 30% and 50% of the drugs that arrived in Greece and Turkey this year came from the port of Guayaquil.