Latin American drug trade

Latin American drug trade 

"They are all responsible - have destroyed our country"  

 

In the large port city of Guayaquil on Ecuador's Pacific coast, shootings, murders, kidnappings and extortion have become commonplace after drug cartels infiltrated the country's banana industry in recent years, AP writes in a report. The cartels smuggle ever-increasing amounts of cocaine in banana containers. 

 

- This is everyone's responsibility: the person who transports (drugs), the person who buys, the person who consumes. They are all responsible. They have destroyed our country, says seller Dalia Chang from Guayaquil.  

 

Franklin Torres, who owns a banana plantation, says he is "deeply concerned" that banana companies with links to the cocaine industry cannot be stripped of their export licenses under current legislation. To see the country's banana industry - "the best in the world" - sunk by drug cartels is unfortunate, Torres believes.  

 

 

Bananas are washed on a farm in Los Rios, Ecuador. Martin Mejia / AP  

 

Ecuador's banana industry is exploited for cocaine shipping 

 

Ecuador is the world's largest banana exporter and is sandwiched between the world's two largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru. This has meant that drug cartels in recent years have begun to exploit the country's banana industry to ship cocaine in banana containers to the outside world, AP writes in a report.  

 

In 2021, almost a third of all cocaine seized in Western and Central Europe came from ports in Ecuador – double that of 2018. Last month, customs authorities in both Spain and the Netherlands made record seizures of cocaine in banana containers from Ecuador. 

 

In addition to its proximity to cocaine production, cartels from Mexico, Colombia and the Balkans have established themselves in Ecuador because the country uses US dollars and is considered to have a weak justice system.