Ecuador Says Will Ask Allied Countries for Special Forces to Fight Drug Gangs

Ecuador said Wednesday it will ask “allied countries” to send special forces to aid its war against drug gangs blamed for plunging the once-peaceful South American nation into violence.

It did not say which countries were being asked to help.

The presidency said in a statement that Quito would ask for “special forces from allied countries to support and enhance the efforts of the armed forces and the national police” to quell cartel turf battles that have seen homicide rates soar.

“The mafias and drug trafficking operate in international networks, so it is necessary to act together to combat them more effectively,” said the statement.

Ecuador is home to an estimated 20 criminal gangs involved in trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, wreaking havoc in a country of 18 million squeezed between the world’s biggest cocaine producers, Peru and Colombia.

In recent years, the nation has been plunged into violence by the rapid spread of transnational cartels that use its ports to ship drugs to the United States and Europe.

Homicides have risen from six per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to a record 47 in 2023.

Under a state of emergency and military crackdown launched by President Daniel Noboa, in office since November 2023, that figure dropped to 38 per 100,000 last year, according to official data.

Noboa is seeking a new term in elections that will go to a runoff in April after an inconclusive first round 10 days ago saw him narrowly pip challenger Luisa Gonzalez.