Car bombs, prison massacres and beheadings: Ecuador terrorized by rise in Mexican-led drug trafficking

Car bombs, prison massacres and beheadings: Ecuador terrorized by rise in Mexican-led drug trafficking
JULY 29, 2022 / 8:08 AM / CBS/AFP

Once a relatively peaceful neighbor of major cocaine producers Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has become a battleground for criminal gangs looking to control the drug trafficking trade, analysts and authorities say.

The violence is grim and takes multiple forms: car bombs, prison massacres and bodies hanging from bridges have become commonplace. Decapitated heads are found in the streets.

The South American country of 18 million -- which for years was merely a transit point in the narcotics trade -- has become a "sanctuary for organized crime," former military intelligence chief Mario Pazmino told AFP.

"The explosions and assassinations that we see are messages of terror to tell us that they, not the police, control a strategic area," he added.


[link to www.cbsnews.com (secure)]