Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime: Ecuador and Bolivia’s Troubling Events

2023-08-15 07:49:16

Two abominable events related to drug trafficking and organized crime have plagued Ecuador and Bolivia: the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and the scandalous escape from the Andean country of Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset.

Villavicencio, who was killed by three bullets that pierced his head, was a courageous investigative journalist who later became a political activist. He not only faced former president Rafael Correa and his corrupt government. He also denounced ‘Fito’, head of ‘Los Choneros’, one of the most powerful drug traffickers in that country, linked to the bloody Mexican Sinaloa cartel, which at the time was led by the infamous ‘Chapo’ Guzmán.

That gang, like others related to Mexican cartels, operates with total impunity. When Correa came to power (2007-2017) he agreed with those organizations, he took over the Judiciary and the Police. He filled them with corrupt judges and police officers who protect gangsters. There began the ordeal of Ecuadorians.

Ecuador is not a coca-growing country. He is a drug dealer to move their merchandise and launder their money, since it is one of the few countries in the region whose system is dollarized.

Violence has reached levels never seen before. In the year 2019, 1,088 deaths were registered and in the year 2022 they rose to 4,761. According to the authorities, 80% of these crimes were linked to drug trafficking!

Sebastián Marset, leader of the organization called ‘First Uruguayan Cartel’

Few have spoken, however, of another scandalous event that is shaking Bolivia today. This is the case of the powerful Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset (32), leader of the organization called ‘First Uruguayan Cartel’ (PCU). Marset was intensely wanted by the DEA and accused of masterminding the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, who was riddled with bullets in Colombia last year when he was vacationing with his wife.

Since 2022, Marset lived peacefully and with unimaginable luxuries in Bolivia with a false Brazilian identity. He was an inveterate ‘drug narco player’ who even had a second division team. He played with the number 10 shirt. And other times with the 29, “because it brings me luck.”

According to what is known, a few months ago US anti-drug agents located him and his spouse in the town of Santa Cruz, located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. Once they fully identified him, they notified the authorities so that they could proceed with his arrest. When everyone expected his capture, he managed to escape. Smoke went up. From hiding, he sends videos threatening to “open my mouth” to denounce all his government partners.

The head of the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking (FELCN) and the intelligence services are involved in his escape. So big is the scandal that the DEA itself has prohibited its agents from exchanging information with these institutions.

Latin America, including Peru, is under fire from drug trafficking. See you the other Tuesday.

*Signed and/or opinion articles are the sole responsibility of their authors.

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