9621 Agnes Crossing, Lake Suzanneview, New Mexico Island 84604-9295.
The arrest of six Colombians on suspicion of killing Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio shows that transnational crime has very long tentacles who recruit killers and mercenaries capable
The arrest of six Colombians on suspicion of killing Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio shows that transnational crime has very long tentacles who recruit killers and mercenaries capable of operating anywhere.
This crime is reminiscent of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise on 7 July 2021 by a group of 26 mercenaries, including 18 Colombians, mostly retired soldiers, and the assassination of Paraguayan anti-mafia prosecutor Marcelo Pecci by hitmen. May 10, 2022 on the Colombian island of Baru, where he spent his honeymoon.
The involvement in the three murders of Colombians, although there are also people of other nationalities in the cases of Moise and Pecci, according to some analysts, is a consequence of the abundance of the “labor force” that internal armed conflict and drug controltwo wars that last for decades in the country.
“It has nothing to do with the fact that I am Colombian; there is nothing in colombia that justifies the violence that there is a criminal industry in colombia This has been brewing for a long time, since the drug cartels in the 1980s, and many people have entered this criminal industry,” Jorge Ivan Cuervo, an analyst at the University of Externado de Colombia, told EFE.
Drug trafficking created a mafia culture in Colombia in the 1980s in which killers have become a hand armed to physically eliminate judges, politicians, journalists, police officers, rivals and anyone who was an obstacle to business, a criminal modality that has persisted over time due to the growth of this problem.
In this context, three presidential candidates were assassinated in less than a year: Luis Carlos Galán (August 1989), Bernardo Jaramillo (March 1990) and Carlos Pizarro (April 1990) in the bloodiest campaign the country can remember, similar to what is happening now in Ecuador, where, in addition to Villavicencio, the mayor of Manta, Agustín Intriago, was assassinated less than three weeks ago.
New mafias
According to Cuervo, the peace deal with the former FARC guerrilla and the elimination of the major drug cartels left many people “unemployed,” but “continued drug trafficking” forced some of them to continue working for new mafias, including Mexican ones, such as the Sinaloa Cartel, which have spread to Colombia and other countries in South America.
“To the extent that drug trafficking is a transnational phenomenon that the Colombian workforcewho grew up in the criminal industry, turned out to be useful and effective for the expansion of organized crime into other regions,” the expert added.
In the case of Villavicencio, the candidate publicly denounced “a very serious threat from one of the bosses of the Sinaloa cartel.”
Villavicencio explicitly mentioned the pseudonym “Phyto” appointed head of the Los Choneros gang, so named because it originated in the town of Chon in the coastal province of Manabi, associated, as he himself condemned, with the Cartel de Sinaloa.
“He The crime of the candidate from Ecuador is a manifestation of the fact that today drug trafficking is a transnational phenomenon. and so he recruits the people with the greatest ability and knowledge, not because they are Colombians, but because they live in Colombia. If organized crime wants to carry out an attack like the one against Villavicencio, they wonder if there are Ecuadorians who are ready to do it, and for sure they will not find them, ”adds Cuervo.
overwhelming violence
According to Human Rights Watch (HWR), the unbridled violence in Ecuador in recent months is the result of a war between two major gangs, Los Choneros and Los Lobos, “allied with Colombian, Mexican and Albanian drug traffickers” for territorial control, confirming the transnational nature and globalization of the drug mafia.
“Increase Organized crime threatens the lives of Ecuadorians and their institutions. To effectively protect Ecuadorians, urgent security measures that respect human rights are needed,” said HRW Americas Director Juanita Gobertus.
In a similar vein, last June, a report from think tank InSight Crime noted that “The homicide rate in Ecuador rose by almost 500% between 2016 and 2022. – arguably the fastest growth in South America -“, adding that “much of this violence is due to the boom in the cocaine trade and Ecuador’s convenient location as an entry point for drugs to Europe.”
“Ecuador’s diverse transnational criminal landscape, dominated by Colombian criminal and insurgent groups as well as Mexican cartels, has made it the focus of organized crime,” InSight Crime added.
(EFE, Jaime Ortega Carrascal)
Source: Aristegui Noticias
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
