Increased violence in Ecuador could generate a wave of

The recent escalation of violence in Ecuador could generate a wave of refugees to neighboring countries in South America. This is the opinion of Professor of International Relations at UFRJ Fernando Brancoli, who spoke with the Brazil in fact this Thursday (11), on the program Central Brazil.

The researcher highlighted that Peru, which borders Ecuador, has already declared a state of emergency and increased security in the region on Wednesday (10). “There is already fear, for example, on the part of neighboring countries, that they may start to receive refugees from Ecuador, who will be people who are forced to leave their homes amid the escalation of violence,” he said.

Brancoli also pointed out relationships between the situation of increased violence experienced by Ecuadorians with drug trafficking and organized crime in other countries. “Drug trafficking in the region has changed. We have had important changes in Colombia, which is an important producer of cocaine and we have had changes, in recent years, also in Mexico. And Ecuador ended up appearing on the map for these drug trafficking groups as a strategic area. This is because it is on the border of Colombia and Peru, which are important producers of cocaine and also have important ports to transport this cocaine to both the United States and Europe”, he stated.

The professor also commented on the decision of Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboa, to declare a state of exception and civil war against criminal groups in the country. “From a practical point of view, the government is saying that drug trafficking groups are so powerful that they can threaten the State, they can try to overthrow the State,” he explains.

According to him, there are short, medium and long term measures to try to control the chaos in the country, but they are challenges. “From an immediate practical point of view, what we can do is deal with countries that are consuming this type of drug, which is still sometimes difficult to do. In the medium and long term, we have to restructure the system criminal, you have to deal with drug addicts, often with the health system and not with a security dynamic and try to deal with it in a broader way”, he said.

Ecuador is experiencing a wave of violence that worsened in the last week after the escape of a leader of the country’s organized crime. The situation worsened after the president declared a state of emergency this Monday (8), which triggered a series of attacks that included attacks and even an invasion by an armed group of a television channel.

This Wednesday (10), Noboa reacted and declared a state of civil war against a list of criminal groups in the country. Amid the wave of violence, a Brazilian citizen was kidnapped in the city of Guayaquil and was released with the help of the Police on Wednesday night (10). The information was confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had been monitoring and trying to check the case since the complaint was made by his son on social media.

The full interview, carried out by presenter Luana Ibelli, is available in this Thursday’s edition (11) of Central Brazilno canal do Brazil in fact no YouTube.

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O Central Brazil is a production of Brazil in fact. The program is shown from Monday to Friday, live, always at 1pm, on Rede TVT and partner broadcasters.

Editing: Thalita Pires