Last year the murder rate was one of the highest in the world, with more than 9,200 people killed, according to Ecuador’s interior ministry. That’s despite an iron-fisted crackdown by President Noboa over the past two years. Critics say it has backfired. Top crime bosses have been arrested, causing the gangs to fracture, but also to multiply.
Many here believe the war against the gangs will never be won.
Captain Bustamante keeps fighting.
When we join him for another operation he’s lying in wait getting a bird’s eye view of the back alleys from a drone. He sees three figures moving around at the edge of a playground – “micro-traffickers” – caught in the act, he says. They are at the bottom of the drug chain, selling locally, in minute amounts, not kilos.
Within minutes he and his team have tracked the suspects to their door. The battering ram is out again, and soon they are in the kitchen, where a middle-aged woman protests, and a young girl bursts into tears.
The police move from room to room, by torchlight – there’s no power – opening wardrobes and lifting mattresses. Upstairs, they find a hiding place behind a window. A young suspect emerges and is detained. Two others are handcuffed in another room. All three are led away, denying that they were dealing drugs.
Nearby the captain finds tiny paper packets of “H” stashed in a flowerpot. It’s a highly addictive mix containing small amounts of heroin sold by neighbourhood dealers for $1.00 (£0.75) per packet.
One of the suspects is charged, and if convicted, he could get five years in jail. Prosecutors release the other two. Senior officers say that happens a lot. They blame corruption in the justice system, and the prosecutor’s office.
