Even after resigning from the job he held for five years in a Guayaquil port, Julián, 35, is not calm. The fear of reprisals that he could suffer for refusing to contaminate a container with drugs haunts him frequently. He has no peace. However, by the minute he is filled with courage and, on condition of anonymity, he recounts the experience he lived when they tried to recruit the drug trafficking mafias that operate in the city’s ports.
How did it get to the ports?
I worked in the port for almost five years. From there, I resigned. I did not receive threats, I received very compromising proposals in the drug trafficking system, they offered me to collaborate with them in contaminating the containers.
How did they approach you?
They don’t intercept people, as you say, no. They already have the phones of all of us who work there punched out, it’s good that I worked, because I no longer work there. They call you on your cell phone, these people work like that: they write to you to intimidate you, that’s what the drug traffickers did while I was there. The drug traffickers are Mexican, they belong to the Mexican mafia, I don’t remember their names, but they are very bloodthirsty. The comrades who were there told me a lot of things, including some comrades who made the turn. The return is when you get involved with them and do all the work with them. Afterwards they don’t do it anymore, they leave the port, they leave their house, the city and the country, because they don’t offer you $2,000, $3,000, no. To me, in the last call, they proposed to leave $50,000 to the house and that’s it, but I never wanted to. The first time it was $7,000 to take a container and transfer it to a truck, because I was already driving cranes. The process there is to grow in the port as a worker, first, then as a truck driver. I took a course to use the machine and once I was on the machine, that’s when the people come, the drug traffickers, who annoy you.
The 25 victims left by the struggle of the ‘narcos’ to dominate the ports
When did they make you the offer?
Last year. I resigned when I had already received the proposals. The first time they offered me $7,000, the second time $25,000, and the third time $50,000. I never accepted. From there, the third time they told me that I had to take the container, lift it up and take a truck from right there, call a colleague, because there people never work alone, there is always more involved: the truck driver, the porter, the one who Check the trucks, the machine one. The story is very long. I have many colleagues who are in prison, many are dead, they were all my colleagues, I met all of them, and some were involved and others were not.
Why do they kill those who have helped them?
What I could see is because some turn around, get involved and then no longer want to and continue working right there; others, because they are bell ringers. Inside there are bell ringers, every drug operation has a price, even human resources personnel are also involved, women are also involved. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
