The 2023 report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc) details two current phenomena in drug trafficking: fragmentation and outsourcing of gangs. In the case of Ecuador, they have increased the violence.
The world report on the cocaine market in 2023 analyzes various aspects of the criminal economy of drug trafficking. One of them has to do with the criminal actors involved in this business.
And currently, according to Unodc, drug gangs in all regions are experiencing two phenomena.
Fragmentation
According to analysis by the United Nations Office, small and medium-sized criminal groups are playing an increasingly important role in the global cocaine trade. This is due to a fragmentation of the bands.
This phenomenon has been seen in all regions of the world, according to the report. And the actors involved have become increasingly specialized.
These groups manage only some phases of the supply chain and form alliances with other organizations dedicated to the other phases. For example, some are in shipping and warehousing, while others specialize in security.
For example, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), both Mexican, control the trafficking corridors from Mexico to the United States.
But then they partner with local criminal groups and street gangs to distribute cocaine across North America. These smaller groups, in turn, arose as offshoots of the cartels.
Another case is that of the Brazilian criminal group Primer Comando Capital (PCC), which has expanded its presence in other South American countries. There are even reports that this organization is operating in the Ecuadorian Amazon near Putumayo. It has also been tracked in Africa and Europe.
But despite its prevailing power, the criminal landscape in Brazil is increasingly fragmented and many smaller criminal groups now also operate in the cocaine trade, often specializing in logistics.
Finally, the report points to the case of criminal groups in the Balkans, such as the Albanian mafia. This organization dominates cocaine trafficking in Europe. However, there is no single predominant Cartel, rather there are several small groups that coexist.
Outsourced drug trafficking
This fragmentation of criminal groups, according to the report, has given rise to a system of “service providers” , which resembles the well-known outsourcing used in the legal business world.
These small and medium-sized groups are in charge, at the request of transnational organizations, of managing parts of the supply chain without ever possessing the drug.
Often, according to information collected by Unodc, these “suppliers” collect the cocaine from the port, provide local transportation, and protect the shipments.
These outsourced gangs will typically guarantee delivery of the cocaine for a fee based on drug quantities.
Some groups also receive payment for their services in kind, that is, in drugs. Which, in turn, drives the availability of cocaine in the domestic market of transit countries.
Lieutenants of foreign criminal groups often travel to set up operations with local suppliers. For example, “traffickers from the Balkans and members of Italian criminal groups have settled in Ecuador to establish supply lines to European markets.”
According to Unodc, the fragmentation and outsourcing of drug trafficking has caused an interrelationship between gangs from different gangs:
Ecuadorian violence
For Unodc, Ecuador is an ” eloquent example ” of the threat posed by local criminal groups that collaborate with foreign drug traffickers.
The report collects data that shows that Ecuador has seen a drastic increase in homicide rates. This violence, according to the thesis of the Government, is related to drugs.
The Unodc report explains that the wave of violence in the country is due to the rivalry between coalitions of local groups affiliated with the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels.
Sources consulted by the organization suggest that after 2019, the Sinaloa Cartel changed its way of operating. It no longer has a fixed operation with Mexican envoys permanently based in Ecuador.
Now, they entrust their business to small cells of intermediaries, who travel to Ecuador to establish traffic with local “contractors” and then leave the country.
According to the Ecuadorian police, these international actors act mainly as financiers, while the national gangs are in charge of the logistics and dispatch of large shipments of cocaine to Europe.