Corruption and violence have reached extraordinary levels in Ecuador, to the point that this country has become the second most violent country in the world after decades of being the most peaceful in South America, and it has done so in just eight years. To understand this social phenomenon we must first place ourselves in the geographical context, because Ecuador became a violent country after Colombia became violent, since the so-called Thousand Days' War, which allowed the United States to take over the province of Panama in order to build the Panama Canal, for which it financed and armed the liberals and conservatives of Colombia to kill each other. In the 1950s, after the so-called Bogotazo, in which presidential candidate Eliécer Gaitán died, the war between conservatives and liberals became complicated and gave way in the 1960s, after the Cuban Revolution, to the anti-communist war, in which the FARC and the ELN became the armed resistance to governments aligned with the United States. However, when the USSR, which financed the guerrillas of Latin America and the communist parties, disappeared, they sought financing and developed extortion, kidnapping, coca cultivation and processing, and also developed links with drug trafficking. This gave way to the so-called Dirty War, in which Colombian guerrillas, military, and paramilitaries destroyed everything that stands for dignity and human rights.
In the 1970s, the United States carried out the so-called Condor Plan, which corrupted the armed forces of South America. This allowed the military to commit atrocities, kidnappings, murders, rapes, and all kinds of violence against the population that financed them and filled them with soldiers. This atrocity and violence reached levels surpassing anything the continent has ever experienced in its history. The countries of the so-called Southern Cone, namely Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Chile, were the most affected.
In the 1990s, Fujimori and Abimael Guzmán in Peru took corruption to a new level, destroying the morale of Peruvian farmers, who went from being guerrillas to drug traffickers, cocaine producers, and illegal gold miners, turning the country into the second-largest producer of cocaine to this day. After Rafael Correa's administration in Ecuador, the country became prey to Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo, a former CIA director who corrupted Lenin Moreno, Correa's former vice president, who betrayed him and allowed the US presence at the Manta Air Base again. He became the main South American president who helped destroy UNASUR, the Union of South American Nations, which had its headquarters near Quito. Corruption and violence have reached extraordinary levels in Ecuador, to the point that this country has become the second most violent country in the world after decades of being the most peaceful in South America, and has done so in just eight years. To understand this social phenomenon we must first place ourselves in the geographical context, because Ecuador became a violent country after Colombia became violent, since the so-called Thousand Days' War, which allowed the United States to take over the province of Panama in order to build the Panama Canal, for which it financed and armed the liberals and conservatives of Colombia to kill each other. In the 1950s, after the so-called Bogotazo, in which presidential candidate Eliécer Gaitán died, the war between conservatives and liberals became complicated and gave way in the 1960s, after the Cuban Revolution, to the anti-communist war, in which the FARC and the ELN became the armed resistance to governments aligned with the United States. However, when the USSR, which financed the guerrillas of Latin America and the communist parties, disappeared, they sought financing and developed extortion, kidnapping, coca cultivation, and processing, and also developed links with drug trafficking. This gave way to the so-called Dirty War, in which Colombian guerrillas, military, and paramilitaries destroyed everything that stood for dignity and human rights.
In the 1970s, the United States carried out the so-called Condor Plan, which corrupted the South American armed forces. This allowed the military to commit atrocities, kidnappings, murders, rapes, and all kinds of violence against the population that financed them and filled them with soldiers. This atrocity and violence reached levels surpassing anything the continent has ever experienced. The countries of the so-called Southern Cone were the most affected, namely Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Chile.
In the 1990s, Fujimori and Abimael Guzmán in Peru took corruption to a new level, destroying the morale of Peruvian peasants, who went from being guerrillas to drug traffickers, cocaine producers, and illegal gold miners, turning the country into the second-largest cocaine producer to this day. After Rafael Correa's government in Ecuador, this country became prey to Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo, a former CIA director, who corrupted Lenin Moreno, Correa's former vice president, who betrayed him, and who again allowed the North American presence at the Manta Air Base, and became the main South American president who helped destroy UNASUR, the Union of South American Nations, which had its headquarters near Quito, and established a Court of Justice and a National Electoral Council in Ecuador, to persecute Rafael Correa and the Correistas, and prevent their return to the country, using justice, this turned the judiciary, elections and popular consultations, into the center of corruption in the country. Then dollarization, the pandemic, quarantine, social distancing, the internet, distance learning, and teleworking produced an economic crisis and a new form of social interaction, where cell phones and the internet are central. This, coupled with the corrupt Guayaquil oligarchy, which controls banking and exports, brought Guillermo Lasso, the richest banker, into power. He is closely linked to money laundering in tax havens such as Panama and Delaware. He also brought Daniel Noboa, the largest banana-exporting landowner, to power. Banana shipments are the most contaminated with cocaine among the shipments leaving Ecuador. Both are linked to drug trafficking to Europe, turning Ecuador into a war zone between the Colombian and Mexican cartels, which transport drugs to the United States, and the Albanian Cartel, which transports drugs to Europe and is behind the presidential campaigns of recent governments, and the takeover of the port of Guayaquil, now the world's leading exporter of cocaine from Europe. Governments, dollarization, drug trafficking, cartels, and gangs—which now operate not only from prisons or poor neighborhoods but even from schools—plus Ecuador's ease in smuggling drugs, the price and demand in the US and Europe for cocaine, which is now the least lethal drug, have led Ecuador to become one of the most corrupt and violent countries in the world. This has altered the human behavior of the population, which has become emotionally affected, where fear and hatred are translated into votes, personal relationships, and generalized behavior. This is what has changed the functioning of the central nervous system and created new forms of relationships between the neurons of the population most exposed to violence, poverty, emigration, and unemployment.
