{"id":8255,"date":"2025-10-02T04:06:57","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/trumps-declared-war-on-drug-cartels-thousands-of-miles-away-ecuador-is-taking-action\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T04:06:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:06:57","slug":"trumps-declared-war-on-drug-cartels-thousands-of-miles-away-ecuador-is-taking-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/trumps-declared-war-on-drug-cartels-thousands-of-miles-away-ecuador-is-taking-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s declared war on drug cartels. Thousands of miles away, Ecuador is taking action"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The screams from the women and children pierce the air as the battering ram smashes through the front door of their home.<\/p>\n

There’s shouting and all-round chaos as police officers – machine guns and pistols held out in front of them – pile inside.<\/p>\n

Doors are kicked in, curtains ripped down, drawers are opened in bedrooms, and boxes and tables are overturned.<\/p>\n

“There’s children here!” the women shout, as they all drop to the floor.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Officers<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Officers force their way into home on a raid\n

<\/p><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

We are on a drugs raid in Guayaquil in Ecuador, and the police say they have good intelligence that this is the home of a drug dealer.<\/p>\n

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I have done dozens of embeds during my career covering Latin America’s drugs gangs, and it’s always deeply upsetting to see children caught up in it.<\/p>\n

These are homes, and these are women and children, but their rights are trumped by their circumstances – they are poor, live in a rough area, and the likelihood is that one of their family members is part of a gang.<\/p>\n

The police coming through their door is a fact of life for them.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Police<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Police are getting additional resources to tackle drug cartels
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

What has changed here, though, is that the raids have increased, and will continue to.<\/p>\n

Why? Because US President Donald Trump has launched a war against drug cartels – and is demanding that countries on his list of troublesome nations tow the line and join him, or face punishing sanctions or worse.<\/p>\n

Ecuador doesn’t produce drugs, but it is used as a transit country by drug cartels in this region. Its ports are the gateway to sea routes north to the United States and west to Asia and the South Pacific.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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It is for this reason that Ecuador is on Trump’s list. But Ecuador wants help combatting these criminal networks and has been co-operating with the US.<\/p>\n

Trump has been sending resources and military muscle to Ecuador, and the US is planning to open a military base there.<\/p>\n

In exchange, Ecuador’s security forces are raising their game to assure America that they are on the same page.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Stuart<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Stuart Ramsay in Guayaquil, Ecuador
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

We witnessed this effort in real time, guided through multiple raids by a police officer with the call sign “Lynx”. He’s a former special forces officer now affiliated with the drugs squad, and he is something of a phenomenon.<\/p>\n

“The United States [is] giving us money, guns, technology, and we are so happy about that,” he told me.<\/p>\n

“It’s very important for the war.”<\/p>\n

You could say that Lynx is in many ways the poster boy of the Ecuadorian police – he’s extremely confident, highly rated by his superiors and adored by his team.<\/p>\n

Among his repertoire of skills, he is an expert drone pilot.<\/p>\n

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\n
\n \"Stuart<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Stuart Ramsay meets with former special forces officer ‘Lynx’
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I joined him in the car park of the police headquarters as he put up his drone and started spotting drug deals on the streets a kilometre or so away. We watched the screen on the controller as two transactions took place.<\/p>\n

The multibillion-dollar drugs business is a vast global network, and by taking out the “small guys” as Lynx calls them, they hope to disrupt the chain higher up.<\/p>\n

“We always grab the small guys, and they talk … give me that guy, he’s a bigger guy, and then we go, go, go,” is how Lynx describes taking out the chain.<\/p>\n

They hope that any intelligence they can gather from the lower links will ultimately be valuable information they can pass on to the US to catch more important figures.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"A<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n A suspect lies on the ground as police stand guard
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Lynx briefs his boss, and then we jump in our vehicles as the police try to track down the dealers. They find them – and the drugs they were selling – the next day.<\/p>\n

The same day, we head to a notoriously dangerous hilltop neighbourhood with Lynx and the rest of the officers. They are looking for more drugs and dealers who will talk.<\/p>\n

They arrest one man they say is a lookout – and as they search through piles of rubbish for drugs, they find bags of cocaine.<\/p>\n

Lynx thinks we are being watched, so he sends his drone up again, this time to see what’s happening in the streets above us.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Police<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Police are getting additional resources to tackle drug cartels
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

“Many people [are] up on the hill, like radars looking for us, and what we are doing, and they have an advantage because they’re higher up,” he says.<\/p>\n

“We will take the evidence, and that guy is not the owner, he is just a lookout,” he says, pointing to the man in handcuffs on the floor.<\/p>\n

“And then I’m going to take you next to where a big drug dealer is, a strong dealer.”<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Armed<\/div>
Image:<\/span>
\n Armed officers watch on outside a home in Guayaquil
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I ask Lynx if he thinks people who do drugs in London, New York, or Los Angeles – or anywhere really – think about him and his officers on the streets every single day.<\/p>\n

“I think no, because they’re in the countries more powerful, smarter, if they really [knew] I think they would think no, it’s bad, because people are killing in poor countries for the drugs, for the drugs [they] are consuming,” he replied.<\/p>\n

“Maybe they’ll think, oh I don’t have to do that.”<\/p>\n

The haul of drugs, weapons, ammunition and money from the raids we joined is pretty impressive.<\/p>\n

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\n
\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Bags of marijuana, kilo packets of cocaine cut for sale, alongside a kilo of pure cocaine paste. There’s also money, weapons and ammunition.<\/p>\n

It’s something of a Latin American tradition to display the results of these raids.<\/p>\n

Behind the table, also on display, are the alleged gang members.<\/p>\n

Who they know is worth more than all the drugs in front of them, which is what the Americans want.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/sub><\/p>\n

Trump’s declared war on drug cartels. Thousands of miles away, Ecuador is taking action<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The screams from the women and children pierce the air as the battering ram smashes through the front door of their home. There’s shouting and all-round chaos as police officers – machine guns and pistols held out in front of them – pile inside. Doors are kicked in, curtains ripped down, drawers are opened in…<\/p>\n

Read More “Trump’s declared war on drug cartels. Thousands of miles away, Ecuador is taking action”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}