Ecuador spends $1.5 billion annually on organised crime fighting, Noboa claims
President Daniel Noboa revealed the high cost of the anti-narcotics struggle and highlighted support from the USA, Italy and other countries. Experts question the effectiveness of the strategy.
Ecuador invests $1.5 billion annually in security against drug trafficking
The Ecuadorian government allocates approximately 1.5 billion dollars per year to combating criminal groups linked to drug trafficking, revealed President Daniel Noboa in statements to radio Élite. According to apnews.com, Noboa stressed that the country faces around 80,000 members of criminal gangs and that the task falls mainly to its own forces.
"We have to do our duties, our Armed Forces and our police," the president stated.
Noboa detailed that Ecuador has received international cooperation from the United States in the form of equipment, economic assistance, information and intelligence. That collaboration is also supplemented by Italy, other European countries, and nations such as Argentina, Brazil, Israel, South Korea and Japan.
The president also highlighted the Shield of the Americas initiative, a regional coalition driven by United States President Donald Trump to execute joint actions against cartels. "Finally there is a continental agreement on the fight against drug trafficking," Noboa expressed.
However, the alliance with Washington has generated questions about its actual impact on reducing crime. Diego Pérez, a lecturer at the School of Security and Defence of the Institute of Higher National Studies, told The Associated Press that "the dynamics of criminality are not reversed in any country by a hard-line approach". Pérez added that it is necessary to review indicators of social investment and the employment opportunities generated to neutralise the influence of criminal networks.
The escalation of violence in Ecuador intensified from 2021 onwards, when local gangs associated with Colombian and Mexican cartels began to dispute drug distribution routes. This process resulted in a sustained increase in crimes such as contract killing, kidnapping and extortion.
Noboa attributed the growth of drug trafficking to the lack of border control with Colombia to the north and with Peru to the south, through which weapons entered the country. He pointed out that in southern Colombia, specifically in the Nariño and Putumayo zones, there is "a record for coca cultivation", which directly affects Ecuador through the "permissive" policies of previous governments in that country.
According to the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the area planted with coca in Colombia reached 261,000 hectares in 2024.
In parallel, since the beginning of the year around a dozen Ecuadorian fishing boats have been sunk by the United States in the Pacific Ocean, after being identified as floating fuel stations in service of drug trafficking. International organisations estimate that 70 per cent of worldwide cocaine is exported from Ecuadorian territory.
Source: Google News EC — Crime