How to stop the violence and cruelty with which criminal gangs operate? Two specialists say it is time for a prompt state response

That this is just beginning, that these types of events will continue to occur as long as drug seizures increase, and that it could already be seen as a ‘common’, ‘normal’ activity, as is happening in Mexico, is the picture painted in Ecuador with the appearance of a new corpse hanging on a pedestrian bridge. This time, in La Troncal, Cañar.

This is how two security experts comment on the appearance of the body of a man, previously murdered and exposed for all to see, at dawn on Tuesday 15, on a pedestrian bridge, which connects with the land terminal of that town, in the sector from the neighborhood Unidos Venceremos.

Only the body was hanged. The man, identified as Cristian Miranda Gorotiza, 36, a native of La Troncal and with a criminal record, was decapitated and his head was found on the road.

In the early hours of February 14, the bodies of two mens. One of them was reported missing. Later it became known that they were identified as Carlos Escobar Macías (the disappeared), 34 years old, and Wilmer Paredes Santana, 33 years old.

That event alarmed the Ecuadorian population because that practice, of hanging bodies on bridges, was used – only until then – by drug cartels in Mexico.

Corpses hanging from a bridge in Durán: does the Mexican drug trafficker-style message imply an escalation of violence?

Jorge Villacreses, Master in International Security and Master in Criminalistics, says that these types of acts or reactions will continue to be seen because there are more and more drug seizures. “We could say that (this) is just beginning.”

At the same time, he adds, it is a clear message for the members of these drug gangs, for their rivals and for the population in general: whoever does not align himself or who betrays one of these criminal organizations will end up like this, murdered and hanged in a public place such as bridges.

Depending on how they have been executed, the messages go to the groups.

“If they do some kind of mutilation on the tongue, in the eyes, in the ears, they tell him: ‘you are the toad,’ ‘you are part of those who are deviating from our group.’ They know the key messages that are given in the underworld”, explains Villacreses.

With the case of the hanged man in La Troncal, who was beheaded before being publicly exposed, the viciousness with which they act is evident, regardless of whether or not they are members of these groups. This event could have been because the victim took some money or because he allowed the drug to be lost or discovered and seized by the authorities, since for these drug organizations there are what they consider “important values” at stake, says Villacreses, Security specialist.

They identify the body of another of the men who appeared hanging on the Duran pedestrian bridge

Abraham Correa, security consultant and general in passive service, says that a situation similar to that of Mexico is already being experienced, where the beheaded in recent weeks must also be considered, before those hanged in Durán and after that.

One of these events occurred on March 9, 2022, when the Police found on Las Cabras hill, in Durán, the decapitated body of a young man of about 25 years. The corpse was handcuffed. And his head, in a plastic cover, on one of the entrance ways to this hill, considered one of the most violent places in Guayas.

With this last case, the number of decapitated persons found only in Durán rose to 6 in four months, from November to the beginning of March. And to this is added the head of a man who was thrown in a backpack at the entrance to the port terminal of Puerto Bolívar (Yilport Puerto Bolívar), in El Oro, on February 15, as well as other violent events in the country.

“These are horrifying situations that are going to continue to occur in different parts of the country, it is not that it is in one place…, this is going to continue happening, be it in Guayaquil, in Daule…, anywhere this is going to appear. And it’s really worrying because it keeps moving forward. All criminal modalities have not been minimized, they continue to increase”, exposes Correa.

Five decapitated bodies have been found in Durán since last October.

He says that the fact that it is still not possible to control the hired killers, the issue of the beheaded and now of the bodies hanging on the bridges, among others, is also a sign that the National Police is going through a “very difficult” moment, where “it feels that there is no response from the uniformed men, because they do not have that support from the Government, backing from the Executive”, from the laws and others as they should have to act against these crimes, says Correa.

He exposes, among other examples, the promises of changes in the laws, since the projects sent by the Executive and the proposed proposals are still in the Assembly, where they still do not see the light and he fears that they will be archived as has happened with other projects.

“Every time there are these problems (such as those hanging on bridges, the beheaded and others), these situations, we see that the Police arrive after what has happened, as if they state that they do not do it (before) for not confronting criminals, because they do not have the necessary guarantee to act. These are the things we are experiencing,” says Correa.

But what to do against this?

Jorge Villacreses, a security expert, maintains that the general population cannot do anything about this. Who is responsible for that is the authorities, who must get to work on a real, comprehensive security plan.

“A security plan that can be seen to exist, not just measures that are patchwork, that every time one of these acts happens, they just take to the streets and send police officers (like to Guayaquil) who never arrive… and ( the others) only arrive for a couple of days and then leave. The soldiers who arrive one day in an area to intervene and leave the next day”, explains Villacreses.

For him, the intelligence work carried out by the National Police and all the intelligence units that the State has is vital.

“If there is no such intelligence work, it will never really be possible to find the leaders of all these criminal gangs,” argues this expert.

Abraham Correa, Security consultant, says that the State must also worry about solving the basic shortcomings in terms of tools and needs that the Police have to be able to carry out their tasks, such as the vehicles in which they move (a part are in workshops without being able to be fixed), fuel, logistics, among others.

For him, in the face of these messages -for the bodies hanging on bridges- given by drug gangs to gain territory and minimize their opponents, the authorities must step up to provide a prompt solution. And if there is still no answer, they should at least say “what is happening or what really happened”, without interfering with the ongoing investigation.

They launch a backpack with a human head in the port area of ​​Puerto Bolívar, in El Oro

In the case of the man hanged in the pedestrian crossing of La Troncal, it is known that he had criminal proceedings and a criminal record for robbery and illicit drug trafficking. Even on February 21, the latter had initially been arrested in an anti-narcotics operation for carrying weapons and substances subject to control, but was later released at the flagrante delicto hearing. There, a judge gave him precautionary measures, said Mauricio León, police chief of the La Troncal District. He was called by his alias, Peterete.

So far this year, 11 violent deaths have been recorded in the canton of La Troncal. The Police presume that this case in La Troncal could be linked to a settling of accounts within the same organization to which the decapitated person belonged, since there is a dispute over territory over the sale of controlled substances.

In Ecuador, more than 720 violent deaths have been registered so far this 2022. Only in Zone 8, which includes Guayaquil, Durán and Samborondón, there were more than 250 crimes from January 2022 until the beginning of this week. (I)