In less than a week, Ecuador has had to observe two disturbing events that specialists associate with the scope of the drug gangs operating in the country and the “signals” that, in a new escalation of violence, they are trying to send.
In addition to the two men hanged on February 14 on a pedestrian bridge in Durán, on Tuesday night the 15th was added the macabre discovery of a man’s head and hands outside Yilport, in Puerto Bolívar.
The Police is establishing the links of those hanged from Durán to a case of confiscation of seven tons of drugs in the port of Guayaquil. And the Directorate of Violent Deaths and Disappearances of El Oro manages the hypothesis that the case of the head dumped in the vicinity of Yilport would be linked to international drug trafficking.
On the morning of February 15, two police operations were carried out in which 92 block-type packages of cocaine were seized, which were hidden in the refrigeration panels of two containers.
In Ecuador, the port terminals have been the center of attention in recent times, since drug traffickers take drugs through this route to other countries such as the European ones. To do this, they use various techniques or tactics, such as the contamination of cargo that comes out in containers. They also use port employees to commit these crimes.
Hanging on bridges, a practice of drug groups from Mexico that is registered for the first time in Ecuador
During 2021, 210 tons of drugs were seized and so far in 2022, more than 30 tons, according to government figures. Part of that drug has been seized at the port terminals.
Colonel Cristian Proaño, chief of the Machala District Police, pointed out that the case reported in Puerto Bolívar would be a message sent by drug cartels “because of the work that is being carried out in the different ports.”
“In Guayaquil the same thing happened, here we would not be far from reality, that it is a message from some kind of cartel, which tries to send this type of message,” said the officer.
Proaño considered the idea that these situations possibly occur because the person did not accept the proposal of a cartel or could have been in charge of carrying out a job that was frustrated with a seizure.
After conducting a review of the contents of the backpack that was abandoned by a subject aboard a motorcycle outside Yilport in Puerto Bolívar, the Police reported that the head and hands were found inside. The latter allowed the identification of the victim, who has been identified as Manuel Armando Sarmiento Sánchez.
He registers three criminal proceedings against him: in 2009 for investigation and discovery of infractions; the second in 2017 for possession of unauthorized weapons, and the last in 2019 for organized crime.
They seize seven tons of drugs in the port of Guayaquil; Police investigate links with the two hanged on the Durán bridge
The police units continue with the investigations to locate the rest of the body and determine the possible causes of the murder.
A video from the Yilport Puerto Bolívar security system is being exploited to identify the person who left the backpack on a motorcycle.
The guards reported this fact and imagined that it was an explosive device, it was reported.
In an interview held at the Carondelet Palace, President Guillermo Lasso acknowledged that drug trafficking and micro-trafficking are present in Ecuador and that this leads to fights between the gangs.
“Here is a reality: drug trafficking has gained space in Ecuadorian society and its presence has been made extremely easy for fifteen years and today a government arrives that makes a decision: Do not allow this scourge in Ecuadorian society because if we agree with them as we like, we are going to lose the state,” he said.
The president acknowledged that facing this problem is not easy, but indicated that there is help from the US, Colombia, Israel and the United Kingdom and they are working, it is not easy, it will not be overnight. “Our duty is to confront them with the help and support of Ecuador’s allies,” he said.
Lasso pointed out that the problem is not the Government Minister, Alexandra Vela. “I see in the Assembly that they agree to a political trial for her, that is not going to solve the problem, the problem is not the minister, the problem is the drug gangs that we must defeat to recover the total tranquility of the Ecuadorian people,” the president maintained. (I)
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.
