President Daniel Noboa has responded to Ecuador’s security crisis by declaring a state of emergency, making high-profile arrests and sending the military onto the streets and into gang-controlled prisons.
But in Puerto Bolivar locals see little impact.
Noboa lost the province by five points to his leftist rival in Sunday’s election and may not fare any better in April’s second-round runoff.
Evan Ellis, a Latin America security expert and former State Department advisor, said Noboa’s deployments have “caused (gangs) to ‘lay low’ to some degree”.
But they “did not address the fundamental problems of the flow of drugs through the country and the associated battles for control over routes.”
The deployments may also have left the military shorthanded and in a difficult position.
Navy Captain Carlos Carrera admits “the Armed Forces are not designed to combat organized crime or to directly provide internal security. We can help the police.”
But according to the fisherman from Puerto Bolivar, the police don’t always police, “the prosecutors don’t prosecute and the judges don’t judge.”
One official recalled a woman who approached the police for help escaping her gang member partner.
“There is no one in charge here,” said one resident of Pitahaya, a nearby fishing village.
“We live in fear that we will lose everything over some little thing”.
© 2025 AFP