Why are Ecuador’s ports being ignored in the war against drug traffickers, experts ask

In the past 12 months, the United Nations, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and private crime tracking company InSight Crime have recommended that Ecuador focus on its ports in the fight against drug traffickers.

Ecuadorian officials met with members of the U.S. Southern Command last week in Panama.

“To effectively combat the current crime wave, Ecuador must concentrate law enforcement efforts on its ports,” the UN Drug Office said in a February memo to Ecuador’s Interior Ministry. “Corruption must be confronted and inspections must be increased to slow and control the exportation of cocaine from the docks in Guayaquil and Machala.”

“So why isn’t this happening?” asks University of Guayaquil criminology professor Michelle Maffei. “Everyone knows this is the root of the crime problem, since this is where the money is, so why is it being ignored? Why aren’t the emergency declarations focused on the ports?”

In a NotiMundo radio interview Wednesday, Maffei reacted to the latest “joint operations plan” released by Ecuador and the U.S. to combat drug trafficking. “It is the same plan we’ve followed since the beginning of the year and it has produced no tangible results,” she said. “We will keep bombing go-fast boats and seizing and bombing fishing boats. We will also patrol the northwest border with Colombia.”

According to the annual drug report by the UN, less than 20% of cocaine leaves Ecuador in small boats. Maffei says she is “puzzled” why joint missions are not conducted at the ports. “Why doesn’t the Ecuadorian government insist on patrolling the ports? Are they intentionally keeping the missions away?”

Maffei also asks why rules and procedures at the ports have not been improved. “At the port in Rotterdam, 15% of cargo containers are scanned for drugs and other contraband,” she says. “In Italy, 5% are scanned. Why does Ecuador only scan one-third of one percent of the containers leaving the ports?”

One answer, according to Wagner Bravo, former Public Security Director, is corruption. The ports, like money laundering and sales of illegally mined gold, are often overseen by corrupt officials, he says. “To confront the drug traffickers, we must first acknowledge the corruption that allows the traffickers to prosper,” he says. “We must eliminate corruption that is occurring even within the upper echelons of decision-makers. If we cannot do this, the police and military will never make significant progress against the criminals.”

Like Maffei, Bravo questions the effectiveness of states of emergency that put more police and soldiers on the street. “There is some benefit to this, but it is not the answer,” he says. “Effective action cannot use a top-down strategy. It must involve local governments, from the parishes on up. It cannot simply be a show of force. Most of the work needs to happen behind the scenes.”

“Most of all, we must confront the corruption,” he adds.

In the joint missions with the U.S., Maffei says the government should insist on prioritizing the ports. “I am afraid Ecuador is taking the lead from Washington and it should be the other way around. We need to remind them that we are attacking 20% of the problem and ignoring the other 80%. We need to put the emphasis where it belongs.”