What’s behind the chaos in Ecuador?

Ecuador’s worsening security situation deteriorated further in spectacular fashion this week, with criminal groups seizing symbolic locations including a TV station and a university in a show of force against the government.

Ecuador’s worsening security situation deteriorated further in spectacular fashion this week, with gunmen armed with explosives storming a TV station during a live broadcast. The country has been rocked by blasts, police kidnappings and prison disturbances in a wave of violence authorities are struggling to contain. The immediate trigger was the prison escape of one of Ecuador’s most powerful drug lords but instability has been growing for years. Here’s what we know. Ecuador, home to the Galapagos islands and a tourist-friendly dollar economy, was once known as an “island of peace,” nestled between two of the world’s largest cocaine producers, Peru and Colombia. But the country’s deep ports have made it a key transit point for cocaine making its way to consumers in the United States and Europe. And its dollarized economy also makes it a strategic location for traffickers seeking to launder money. Ecuadorian gangs are working with foreign syndicates including Mexican cartels, Brazilian urban gangs and even Albanian mafia cells, fueling the ongoing conflict.