How mafia like “Freddy Kruegers” and “Peaky Blinders” terrorize Ecuador through blackmail and murder

Ecuadorians take polls in the shadow of Sunday Drug violence surges and an unsettling explosion of local gangs and mafia numbers.

Cocaine flooding from Colombia and Peru Port of Ecuador From Albania to Italy to Mexico to the mafia figure who was once a safe Andean country.

But this also creates a native group with a stunning name and ferocious reputation.

“Los Freddy Kruegers” creates nightmares on the streets, “Ugly Women’s Headquarters” prisons and “mountain blinds” attempt to rule the critical coastal waves.

They join numerous other groups intimidate citizens through campaigns of blackmail, kidnapping and murder.

In January and February, Ecuador recorded more than one death per hour, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

Guayaguir’s police commander Pablo Davila admitted that the Mafia “have room; fighting them is complicated.”

This situation makes the safe location between Daniel Noboa and leftist candidate Luisa Gonzalez located in the center of Sunday’s presidential runoff.

Noboa announced State of emergency and deployment of troops In prisons for street and violent behavior, the homicide rate in 2024 has dropped slightly compared to the previous year. The President took action last year The gunman rushed in and fired In television studios and in bandits, it is threatened to randomly execute civilians and security forces. Prosecutors who investigated the attack later Shoot to death.

“They asked for $15,000 not to kill us”

A businessman remembers the day she exploded in the restaurant in Guayaquil, the country’s economic and criminal capital.

“They said they were from the mafia. They asked $15,000 not to kill us,” the woman, who refused to be named for her safety, told AFP.

Many local gangs work with larger cartels from Mexico and Colombia as well as the Albanian and Italian mafia.

But local gangs also crack and spread when looking for their growing pie.

“War is on territory. There are no former leaders. Everyone wants independence.” The head of a gang said anonymously.

This situation has caused serious headaches for the Ecuadorian security services, and now they have to gather intelligence and oppose the full action of the ever-changing actors.

Security expert Carla Alvarez compared the situation to the chaos in Colombia in the 1990s.

“We’re seeing the association of small, less rigid groups. This has happened in the 1990s Colombia after Pablo Escobar’s death,” she said.

In Ecuador, when one of the largest organizations splits, the hierarchy begins to break down.

“Choneros” leader Jorge Luis Zambrano died in 2020, leaving behind a power vacuum.

Now, even in the relatively safe Quito, once a haven for drug violence, the impact is felt more and more on the front lines.

There, restaurant employee Marianela was threatened and ransomware through WhatsApp. “I stopped them,” she said.

However, violence was not ignored on the streets near her, Martha Bucaram.

Police and the military often appear in search of weapons and drugs. “About two people died around the corner,” she recalled.

Municipal Security Secretary Carolina Andrade admitted that the capital was seen as “a safe hiding space” without the security presence of Guayaquil, which was hit hard.

With new leagues and actors coming up, it could be even worse.

Andrad said there are now multiple smaller gangs trying to join “larger organization, legitimacy and territorial control.”

At least two well-known Ecuadorian gang leaders targeting the United States made headlines this year. Earlier this month Prosecuted in New York He accused thousands of pounds of cocaine imported into the United States. José Adolfo Macías Villamar (nicknamed “Fito”) escaped from a prison in Ecuador last year and was not in US custody.

In 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on “Los Choneros”.

Earlier this year, the leader of one of Ecuador’s largest criminal groups Arrested at his home In the coastal city of Portoviejo. Carlos D, known as his alias El Chino, is the second appointment of “Los Lobos” and “considered as high value targets.” The Armed Forces said in a statement.

this Last year, the United States announced Los Lobos Become the largest drug trafficking organization in Ecuador.