DURAN: A family pulls out appliances, furniture and even a pool table that narcos moved into their home in southwestern Ecuador after they left it in fear and couldn’t pay the protection money they demanded.
The family recently got their home back after it was seized by security forces in the city of Duran, which is fighting a form of extortion in which drug traffickers take over parts of neighborhoods considered strategic for their business.
“They wanted me to pay them $2,000” in exchange for allegedly “watching over” the house, which was still under construction, the owner told AFP on condition of anonymity.
She paid the criminals $300, but it wasn’t enough to stop the threats against her family.
“I had to leave out of fear. They will kill anyone,” she said.
Eight months later, she returned to find her home finished and furnished – to the narcotic’s liking.
Under a tin roof, men knock down improvised wooden partitions and throw the criminals’ belongings on the street to be burned.
Duran, a small town on the banks of the Guayas River, is prized by narcotics for its access to the nearby port city of Guayaquil, a hub for smuggling cocaine to Europe and the United States.
Duran “was exposed to mafias for many years,” Billy Navarrete, director of the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDH) in Guayaquil, told AFP.
Criminal gangs use homes abandoned by families to hide, hold hostages or store drugs and weapons, said Cesar Pena, Guayas state prosecutor.
In Duran, where there are still many dirt roads and few public services, children are easy prey for drug traffickers looking to expand their ranks, Navarrete said.
They are forcibly recruited to act as guards, traffickers or hitmen, causing “irreparable damage to the social fabric” of the city, he said.
“He’s blackmailing these boys and girls in his community. He’s blackmailing those who saw them born. That didn’t happen before.”
In 2023, Duran was the city with the second highest number of murders in Ecuador, with 450. Guayaquil ranked first with 2,320.
Prosecutor Pena said extortion had exploded in the country after the Covid-19 pandemic, fueled by unemployment. He said the state of Guayas receives about 4,000 extortion reports a month.
Criminals target homes, businesses, schools and even human rights organizations.
CDH recorded threats against an activist who installed security cameras in a community center in Guayaquil.
If the homeowner “doesn’t pay, they force him to leave the house, destroy him, kill a family member or plant an explosive device to intimidate him,” Peňa said.
In a show of force, the government of President Daniel Noboa deployed about 1,100 police and soldiers to Duran and warned the narcos that their “hours” were “numbered”.
At least 100 houses were found in Duran in July. In Guayaquil, 170 houses were returned to their owners in June.
While a family in Duran is cleaning their home, a motorcycle passes by. These “individuals ride motorcycles to track and warn terrorists,” whispers a police officer.
