Ecuador

Over the last 36 hours, things have turned dramatically in Ecuador. We are at the point where the federal government declared all criminal groups terrorists while these groups declared war on the state. Ecuador is about the size of Colorado. But security was the central policy promise of the current president, Daniel Noboa, who was elected after another candidate was Assassinated during the campaign:

On the campaign trail, Noboa initially promised to fight organized crime by strengthening the social safety net and investing in education. But after the assassination of another candidate, Noboa’s rhetoric took a turn towards militarization, promising more authority for armed forces, new technology, and weapons for police.

However, tough-on-crime policies seem to have fueled backlash from the gangs rather than quelling them. Noboa’s administration has acknowledged that one of his flagship policy proposals — to build new high-security prisons and transfer jailed gang leaders there — may have set off this most recent wave of violence.

Now that Noboa has declared war, his escalation strategy has reached its peak, with no clear plan if this war drags on.

So that’s the reason behind some of this. So what is going on? The leader of one of the cartels, Adolfo Macias, alias El Fito, escaped prison. He leads the Choneros gang, one of many that were declared to be…