Ecuador 2026

Ecuador has become South America's fastest-deteriorating security crisis, ranking sixth globally on ACLED's conflict index. More than 50 armed gangs — including affiliates of Albanian and Mexican cartel networks — now compete for control of trafficking routes, prisons and city neighborhoods. Over 2,500 violent deaths were recorded in 2025 alone, prompting the president to formally declare an "armed internal conflict" and deploy the military onto city streets, a status the country has maintained into 2026.

Background

Until roughly a decade ago, Ecuador was regarded as one of the safest countries in South America, insulated in part by its dollarized economy and comparatively low homicide rate. That changed rapidly as the country became a key transshipment hub for cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru, exploiting its Pacific ports and weak state presence along its northern border. Domestic gangs that once served as prison-based enforcers for larger trafficking networks evolved into powerful, heavily armed factions in their own right, competing directly for control of export routes.

The crisis became impossible to ignore in January 2024, when armed gang members stormed a live television broadcast in Guayaquil amid a wave of prison riots and attacks, prompting President Daniel Noboa to declare the country in a state of "internal armed conflict" and designate more than a dozen gangs as terrorist organizations. The military has remained deployed in a domestic security role ever since.

That January 2024 declaration followed years of escalating prison violence: massacres inside Ecuador's penitentiary system between 2021 and 2023 killed hundreds of inmates as rival gangs fought for control of cell blocks that had become de facto trafficking command centers. The scale of that prison violence was a key driver of the government's decision to treat the gangs as an armed conflict rather than a conventional policing problem.

Current Situation (2026)

More than 50 armed gangs are now active across Ecuador, ACLED's global conflict index places the country sixth worldwide, and reporting on the security situation consistently identifies Albanian and Mexican cartel affiliates operating alongside domestic factions — a sign of how thoroughly Ecuador has been integrated into global cocaine supply chains. Over 2,500 violent deaths were recorded in 2025, and the president's "armed internal conflict" declaration, along with the accompanying military deployment to city streets, remains in force into 2026.

Guayaquil, the country's main port and largest city, and the northern provinces of Esmeraldas and Sucumbíos near the Colombian border, remain the most violent flashpoints, reflecting their roles as export and trafficking corridors. Ecuador's prison system continues to be a major locus of gang power and periodic large-scale violence, with facilities in and around Quito repeatedly the site of riots and killings that security forces have struggled to contain.

The country's dollarized economy, once seen as a source of relative stability, has offered little protection against the security collapse: tourism and foreign investment have been dampened by the country's rising profile as a conflict zone, even as the same economic openness that made Ecuador attractive to legitimate trade has also made it attractive to transnational trafficking networks moving cocaine and profits through its financial system.

Regional Hotspots

• Guayaquil (port/gangs) CRITICAL
• Esmeraldas / Sucumbios CRITICAL
• Quito (prison violence) HIGH

Key Actors

Los Choneros & Rival Gang Factions

Domestic armed groups, several designated as terrorist organizations by the Ecuadorian government, compete for control of trafficking routes, prisons and urban territory across the country.

Albanian & Mexican Cartel Affiliates

Foreign organized crime networks have established a direct presence in Ecuador, using the country's Pacific ports and porous northern border to move cocaine toward European and North American markets.

Ecuadorian Military & State of Emergency

Deployed to city streets and prisons since President Noboa's January 2024 declaration of an "armed internal conflict," a status that has remained in force through 2025 and into 2026.

Ecuador’s Penitentiary System

Prisons have functioned as de facto command centers for rival gangs since at least 2021, when a wave of massacres between competing factions exposed the state's near-total loss of control over its own correctional facilities.

Humanitarian Impact

Ecuador's prisons have become recurring sites of mass violence, with riots and gang massacres killing dozens at a time in facilities the state has struggled to control. Civilians in Guayaquil, Esmeraldas and Sucumbíos face extortion, kidnapping and homicide rates that have climbed sharply over the past several years, while the military's expanded domestic security role has drawn human rights concerns over the use of force in populated areas. The rapid deterioration — from one of the region's safer countries to a top-ten ACLED conflict zone in roughly a decade — has strained the capacity of hospitals, courts and social services in Guayaquil and other affected cities well beyond what they were built to handle.

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