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Ecuador’s State of War: The Growing Threat of Organized Crime and Political Violence in Latin America

Every day with more force, the world moves towards a new configuration, to an order stressed by a curious duality: on the one hand, the law, institutions, the rule of law, citizen security, the imperative of public order. On the other, organized crime, drug trafficking, political violence, the anomic dimension of illegal immigration.

This week, Ecuador showed us a path and eventual destination; that of another Latin American country forced to sacrifice its precarious tranquility to fall into a state of internal war. The Armed Forces taking control of the country and entering into direct confrontation with the drug clans. Years of political indolence, if not open complicity between authorities and criminal organizations, thus end up taking their toll. To which is added a collapsed prison system and a romantic and irresponsible vision of irregular immigration. Finally, a culture of permissiveness, of rights without duties, of massive evasion, of the systematic destruction of public order.

It is a cocktail that matured for a long time and was doomed to explode. Digital communication and social networks made possible new forms of coordination, which organized crime learned to use effectively. Faced with the naivety of the State and the opportunistic do-goodism of politicians, in a few years Latin America and other areas of the world innocent people fell into the jaws of clans and criminal gangs. That, like in Chile, they control more and more territories, they have more people under their command, and children and adolescents have become soldiers.

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This is the reality that eats away at our societies from within and that has now come to light to put Ecuador in check. With a government forced to declare a state of war and the Armed Forces. having to take control of the country. Phenomena similar to those that have already occurred in El Salvador, Colombia, and in some areas of Mexico and Brazil. But in Chile we are either skeptical or confident: “we are very far from the reality of Ecuador,” said Minister Tohá. It is true, but it is also true that we are far from the reality that we lived in Chile just a couple of years ago. The number of gunshot deaths every week, the new type of criminal violence, the penetration of drug consumption and culture in all social segments, are not phenomena to be calm and make optimistic projections.

The equator line is not that distant, rather it gets dangerously close as we move in that direction. In order not to end up crossing it, a national policy is required that commits everyone and for which everyone can be responsible, since it will have economic, political and human costs that are difficult to assume. Serious diagnoses, preventive measures and shock responses to completed crimes. There is no alternative or, rather, there is: it is what is being experienced these days in the streets and cities of Ecuador.

By Max Colodro | Philosopher and political analyst

2024-01-13 22:22:03
#Max #Colodros #Column #Equator #Line #Tercera

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