“If you complain, you die”: Ecuadorian fishermen succumb to drug trafficking under threats

Facing an idyllic coastal landscape surrounded by luxurious buildings, the resort of Salinas, in the southwest of Ecuadorhides a war that escapes tourists. The mafias enrolled the fishermen in drug trafficking under their law of silence and bullets.

“If you complain, you die“They are not going to be able to leave the port,” a 35-year-old fisherman told AFP. He is afraid to give his name for security reasons. He works at the Santa Rosa dock in this city of 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Santa Elena.

The atmosphere at the port is one of absolute silence. Distrustful glances increase the tension.We can’t stay here for long.“,” the worried man warns.

Like other fishermen on Ecuador’s Pacific coast, he was caught in a perverse dilemma: transport cocaine in exchange for large sums of money or die for refusing to do so.

His barge weaves through dozens of colorful boats that float alongside the dock, before disappearing into the open sea.

Salinas is located 150 kilometers west of Guayaquil, the country’s main commercial port and the epicenter of clashes between gangs fighting for drug trafficking routes to the United States and Europe.

Peace reigned in Ecuador until a few years ago, but today the country is bleeding to death, with record levels of violence. Homicides rose from 6 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to a record 47 per 100,000 in 2023.

“Artisanal” trafficking

Santa Elena is the political stronghold and personal residence of President Daniel Noboa. Since coming to power in 2023, the president has waged a merciless war against drug trafficking, which in turn is strengthening in a nation located between Colombia and Peru, the largest cocaine producers in the world.

Unlike Guayaquil, where drugs leave by the ton in large containers, in Santa Elena the traffic to the Pacific Ocean is done “in a more artisanal way“,” says Glaeldys González, Crisis Group researcher for Ecuador.

“They do it using fishing boats”, although also larger, semi-submersible vessels”and even submarines“says Boris Rodas, a Navy captain who commands the area.

Most of the drugs go to Central America, where they are stockpiled before being sent to the United States.

Organized crime threatens fishermen across hundreds of small towns that “They are strategic exit points“to the sea, according to González.

Santa Elena is home to Los Choneros, one of the largest organizations in the country, and other gangs with less influence in the area such as Los Lagartos, Los Tiguerones, Los Chone Killers and even Los Lobos.

“Silver or lead”

“We never meet the people who hire us. There are intermediaries and we never meet the boss.“, says the fisherman.

For them, transporting cocaine represents an income of around US$10,000 per shipment, a figure that is difficult to reject for a trade where scarcity prevails.

Fish are not as plentiful as before and the few profits collected are evaporating.in boat repair costs“, laments another fisherman, also under condition of anonymity.

Drug traffickers take advantage of locals “mainly for his knowledge of the sea“and the weather conditions,” explains González.

But this dynamic is far from being a free exchange.These people and their families are threatened“by armed actors, adds the expert, who adopted the maxim of the slain Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar:”Silver or lead”.

“Half of the money is delivered before leaving and the other half when we return to the port with the work done.” says the fisherman from the Santa Rosa dock, although he admits that they often only receive a fraction of what they agreed to. To complain could mean death.

Crossfire

“A few days ago, a man who was a fisherman was killed.“, the sailor says in a low voice. Everyone knows it, but no one wants to talk about it.

Offshore, gangs fight over routes just as they do on land. A few days ago, a group of fishermen found a decapitated corpse in the water.When (rival gangs) meet at sea, they fill each other with lead“, says.

Fishermen also fall into the crossfire, accused by some organizations of collaborating with their adversaries.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, they agree to pay extortion to criminal groups in exchange for supposed security.

In April 2023, in Esmeraldas (northwest Ecuador), around thirty gunmen opened fire in a small fishing port, killing nine people. The bloody attack was recorded on security cameras.

Although Noboa declared an internal armed conflict in January and has military personnel deployed on the streets and in prisons, the violence has not subsided. In the first four months of the year alone, some 1,900 homicides were recorded, compared to 8,004 in all of 2023.