Although the government boasts a sharp drop in homicides, the rise in disappearances, the expansion of criminal control, and territorial violence paint a far more alarming picture.
The expansion of organized crime in Latin America no longer only threatens security; it also silently erodes institutions and puts democracy across the region at risk.
Wildlife trafficking has become entrenched as a transnational organized crime network that exploits legal loopholes, demanding cooperation and protection beyond borders.
The expansion of transnational criminal networks reveals structural failures of the state and the consolidation of an illicit governance that challenges regional security.
In a context of profound state weaknesses, Ecuador has ceased to be a marginal actor and has instead become fully—and belatedly—integrated into the dynamics of transnational organized crime.
The violence that followed the recent events in Jalisco speaks not only of a criminal organization, but of the state's capacity—and its limits—to manage power vacuums.
