Ecuador asks US for US$5 billion aid to combat drug trafficking and organized crime

The government of Ecuador is asking the United States to donate US$5 billion to finance the comprehensive security strategy promoted by the administration of Guillermo Lasso.

The Ecuadorian president has emphasized that this amount is required to combat drug trafficking and transnational organized crime.

In an interview with Infobae, Lasso said that he spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden about the need for the United States to contribute economically to the fight against drug trafficking:

“What I have told President Biden is that we have to share the bill because a small country with scarce resources like Ecuador cannot assume all the economic costs involved in the fight against drug trafficking that we must give, and we will continue it,” said Lasso, who held the conversation above during the Summit of the Americas, held last June.

Ecuador has become a key point for cocaine trafficking to Europe and the United States. According to the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics Affairs, the country’s main seaport is the logistical hub for drug shipments to several countries worldwide.

Even the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ranked Ecuador as the third country in the world that seized the most cocaine in 2021.

Most seizures happen at the ports, as traffickers contaminate the containers exported with drugs.

Diego Ordóñez, head of the National Secretariat of Public and State Security, assured in an interview with Ecuavisa that the government has been negotiating these funds with the United States for more than a year.

According to Ordóñez, the proposal for financing and support to equip the public force was submitted to the Department of Defense, the U.S. Southern Command, and the Department of State.

The purpose of this cooperation is that the National Police and the Armed Forces “have sufficient capabilities to confront crime levels”.

Recently, President Guillermo Lasso indicated that the Air Force has only three operational aircraft at the Manta Base, a key point for monitoring the national air and maritime space.

According to sources from the Ministry of Defense revealed to Infobae, the Armed Forces do not operate at their maximum capacity because they do not have the necessary resources.

The Ecuadorian military is estimated to operate at 25% of its total capacity. If the United States delivers the US$5 billion to Ecuador, the Armed Forces will receive US$3 billion and the police the remaining US$2 billion.

“Ecuador cannot win this battle alone; its financial situation does not allow it. Therefore, there is an approach in that sense, and we hope to have answers regarding that,” said Ordóñez.

The Security Secretary also announced that the National Police would change its operational management model and said that intermediate barracks would be installed, with around 200 uniformed officers, in the most violent areas.

For example, three such barracks are planned for Esmeraldas, the border province with a violent death rate similar to that of Tijuana, Mexico.

This new management model would replace the Community Police Units. These units currently employ around 20 police officers, but they have rotating shifts, which means there are between 2 and 3 officers.

This small number of police prevents the uniformed officers from being able to confront the gangs that operate in the country’s most dangerous neighborhoods.

Esmeraldas is a province historically abandoned by the State. Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census, as of 2021, indicate that more than 50% of the population of this province is in the category of income poverty.

Extreme poverty also has a significant percentage and is above 25%. Estimates indicate that the monthly family income of Esmeraldeños is only US$48.

With information from Infobae