The war that Ecuador is going through must be fought on several fronts, beyond the military. Let’s accompany the long-awaited sudden drop in the homicide rate with equally powerful breakthroughs in other areas, such as the implementation of effective transnational cooperation, the transformation of public services and the orientation of the private sector in sustainable processes for its competitive improvement and sustainable development.

Durán, the most violent district in Zone 8, sees an 850% increase in crime

Let’s expand the war scenarios to other fronts. Let’s identify the key battles to be won, devising and vigorously implementing a strategy that will lead us to their victory. If World War II had its turning points in battles like Stalingrad and El Alamein, we in security, politics and economy have battles that will decide our ultimate victory.

Let us advance together and turn these battles into the final milestones of our victory.

Let’s build transnational solutions for a successful fight against organized crime, in agreement with the countries involved. The geopolitical vision inherited from the Cold War, from the Non-Aligned Movement (1961), which founded nationalist proposals and left-wing movements in the third world, has become obsolete. Our nations must see themselves as links in the agglomerations of power in which they remain with benefits based on the value they add to the world. The global multipolarity and visible communication vessels between part of the Latin American left and the drug trade force us to renew the proposal of what is left of the left. Our governments must contribute to solving the transnational problems that overwhelm us (drug trafficking, money laundering, migration, etc.) through pragmatic transnational cooperation that solves their national problems without sacrificing self-determination.

From the most violent district in Ecuador and third in the world, Nueva Prosperina reduced murders by 88%

May American military cooperation be fruitful. Let it cause final victories and be the foundation for the expected turning points of the war. This will be possible if it is accompanied by market measures that, for example, discourage drug prices for first world consumers. Without a combination of transnational solutions, victories in this declared war would be painfully short-lived or lead to the “uneasy coexistence” with the enemy that other nations suffer.

Another cooperation agreement with the United States to track and intercept planes suspected of smuggling drugs is in force from August 2023.

At the national level, we must remove the enemy’s brood of soldiers to create new jobs. There is an urgent need to coordinate the relevant political actors behind the solutions that drive investments in the mining and oil sector. This would provide invaluable resources to reduce the fiscal deficit and create private jobs. In order to achieve the sustainability of the fiscal balance, it is necessary to innovate the public service, change the management and control model, minimize personnel in public entities without impairing their efficiency, digitize the state-citizen relationship (the basis for directing fuel subsidies), innovate public-private cooperation for improving competitiveness, etc.

Crime tunnels, an ancient practice

Let’s make it ours and infect the world with this war plan. Let us advance together and turn these battles into the final milestones of our victory. (OR)