04/12/2024

A Narco Revolt Takes Ecuador to the Brink

Cocaine is at the center of the country's turmoil

The investigation was called “Metastasis,” a sweeping probe into links between parts of Ecuador’s political and legal establishment and the country’s ruthless drug gangs. On Dec. 14, Ecuador’s attorney general announced the arrests of 30 people, including senior judges, prosecutors, police officials, prison officers and prominent defense lawyers. All of them, she said, were part of an organized criminal scheme to benefit one of the country’s top drug traffickers.

“Fellow citizens, the Metastasis case is a clear X-ray of how drug trafficking has taken over the institutions of the state,” Diana Salazar Méndez, the country’s top law enforcement official, said in a video address from her fortress headquarters.

She warned that it was only a matter of time before the gangs struck back.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.