The assassination of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio deepens a political and institutional crisis in Ecuador that has erupted since the dissolution of Congress and early elections last May. All this, moreover, in the midst of a carnage that has plagued the neighboring country for two years as a result of the entrenchment of a transnational drug trafficker with networks in Ecuador’s power structures.
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That is what the professor of the School of International Relations of the Sergio Arboleda University told Fabio Sánchez THE ANNOUNCEMENT “That it is a complex fact that will hardly be solved. Many assassinations of political leaders remain unsolved, in the shadow of uncertainty and with varying hypotheses, from JF Kennedy to Galán. First they are investigated and then they become political ‘thrillers’. It is also a blow to democracy Ecuador and Latin America and moreover it is a terrible example for the new generations in the region”.
The internationalist concludes that it is an “unfortunate moment for the regional election agenda, which has had enough of the complex and sometimes violent political polarization prevailing in the region”.
Óscar Palma, doctor of international relations and professor at the Universidad del Rosario, commented in turn in THE ANNOUNCEMENT that the murder Villavicencio “It’s another symptom of how deep, how influential the drug trade has become in Ecuador. Let’s not forget that the mayor of Manta was already killed a few weeks ago and that was already worrying, but talking about a presidential candidate now is proof of how deeply rooted the drug trade is in that country.”
Context: “Trade between Colombia and Ecuador is not affected by the state of emergency”
The master’s program in international security also warned against drug trafficking networks in Ecuador “have transnational ties to the Sinaloa cartel, the Ndrangheta in Italy, the Albanian mafia, and Ecuador is becoming yet another node in a transnational chain of links between different drug-trafficking criminal groups. This is very disturbing because this has not happened before in Ecuador and it raises a lot of questions like to what extent the politicians, the security forces in Ecuador are also participating, how much are they helping and of course it brings back memories of Colombia from the 1990s when several presidential candidates were murdered by drug traffickers”.
Palma concluded that Ecuador has become a drug exit point for several years: “In a way, to the extent that Colombia has protected its ports, drug traffickers, for example, have had to divert to other exit points, and Ecuador is one of the cases and the increase in seizures in Ecuadorian ports shows this.”
In a way, the internationalist warns, “it is a very worrying panorama for the future, with many questions about political stability, the participation of political elites and security in these drug trafficking programs and of course the strengthening of criminal groups in Ecuador as part of those chain of organized crime”.
Source: El heraldo
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
